Did you or a family member suffer serious injuries due to a dangerous or defective consumer product in San Antonio, TX? Our San Antonio Product Liability Lawyers offer a free case review, so contact George Salinas Injury Lawyers at (210) 225-0909 to help you fight to recover compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, and your pain and suffering.
Our lawyers have over 110 years of experience fighting for injured clients in cases involving car accidents, slip and fall accidents, taxi accidents, premises liability cases, San Antonio pedestrian accidents, brain injuries, and more. Since our firm was founded, we’ve successfully helped our satisfied clients recover hundreds of millions of dollars.
How George Salinas Injury Lawyers Can Help With My Product Liability Case in San Antonio
Standing up to a large corporation can be intimidating under any circumstances. Fortunately, you don’t have to go it alone. When you’re injured and facing teams of defense attorneys, an experienced San Antonio, TX personal injury lawyer can protect you.
At George Salinas Injury Lawyers, our lawyers earned the Texas Lawyer’s Southwest Top Verdicts & Settlements Award. In 2021, we were recognized for the Top 10 Personal Injury Settlements in Texas. Year after year, we’ve been recognized by Super Lawyers Magazine for our excellent legal representation.
Hire us, and you’ll have an attorney to:
- Investigate and gather evidence
- Identify the specific product defect that caused your injuries
- Determine whether others have suffered similar injuries
- Assess your case value
- Retain experts who can testify about the defect and its dangers
- Stand up and negotiate with the insurance companies on your behalf
- Represent you at trial if necessary to protect you
The skill and experience of your San Antonio personal injury attorney can make a world of difference in your case. Don’t hesitate to reach out to our team to learn more today. We work on a contingency fee basis, so there’s no risk in calling.
How Often Are People Injured Due To Defective Products?
Dangerous products make it into the consumer marketplace more often than you might think. On average, about 50,900 Americans lose their lives while using defective products each year. Over 40 million more suffer injuries that are related to consumer product recalls.
The statistics can be scary. Even products that have been approved by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) or Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can be dangerous. In fact, about one in every three FDA-approved medications has unanticipated side effects.
What Is My San Antonio Product Liability Case Worth?
Understanding your rights is essential in any personal injury case. All too often, injured parties accept insurance settlements without understanding their case value. If you accept a settlement, you cannot just change your mind later. You’ll have to sign away your right to future claims, and you can’t undo that if it turns out you made a mistake or if you later discover your injuries from the defective product are more serious than you originally thought.
Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to provide one simple answer to what your product liability claim is worth. That’s because the value of your case will depend on many independent factors, including:
- The type of injuries you have suffered
- Whether you are expected to make a full recovery or suffer a long-term impairment
- The cost of your medical treatment
- Your anticipated future costs
- How the injury impacts your ability to work
- Whether you will be able to return to work in the same capacity
- How the injury changes your lifestyle and ability to enjoy life
- Whether you’re eligible to participate in a class action lawsuit or multi-district litigation (MDL)
Many factors are important when it comes to assessing the value of a personal injury claim. Each case is unique–so having an experienced lawyer review your case is valuable.
Determining the value of some losses is easy. You can add up the medical costs you’ve incurred to date and the work that you have already missed. You can also find experts who can testify about any reduction in earning power that will come from your injuries and who will testify about the costs of ongoing medical treatment that you will need due to the defective product.
There are other types of damages it’s harder to put a price on, though. If your injuries from the product cause you to experience ongoing pain and suffering, for example, it’s difficult to measure what your pain is worth. Likewise, if a product defect causes a fatality, it’s impossible to determine the monetary value of losing your loved one’s companionship.
There are formulas that are sometimes used, such as multiplying your actual economic damages by a certain amount or paying a per-day rate for pain, but these can be imprecise. The best thing to do is to work with an experienced San Antonio product liability lawyer who can assist you in documenting all of your economic and non-financial losses using tools like a pain journal.
The more proof you have of the extent of the harm you endured, the easier it will be to get full compensation for the damage done.
You should also know, though, that if you join a class action or multi-district litigation, you will largely lose control over the amount of compensation you get. You are likely to receive damages that are determined by a global settlement that you have little or no say over. You should always talk with an attorney before joining this type of mass tort litigation to ensure it is in your best interests to do so.
Types of Product Defects
The Food and Drug Administration provides insight into some of the most common types of product defects that you are likely to encounter. Some of the different types of defects the FDA highlights include:
- Counterfeit products
- Products that have become contaminated
- Defective components of products
- Poor packaging
- Product mix-ups with the wrong products being sent
- Questionable stability of the product
- Products that malfunction or fail to work as expected
- Products with labeling issues, such as labels that do not provide accurate information about the ingredients or about the safety risks of the items
All different kinds of items can be defective, not just food and drugs — although issues with food and drugs are extremely common. Other items that regularly have problems include motor vehicles, and children’s toys, as well as dangerous medical devices.
In recent years, millions of vehicles had faulty airbags that had to be recalled because they exploded, sending shrapnel flying and causing serious and sometimes fatal injuries. There have also been issues with defective knee and hip replacements, and countless drugs with serious side effects that manufacturers did not warn about.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to dangerous products on the market. Products could have many different kinds of issues, including:
- Failing to fulfill their intended purpose
- Causing unexpected harm when used as intended
- Failing to provide adequate warning of the risks of their use
- Being manufactured with a defect or flaw that causes them to be unsafe in some way and harm customers
If you are concerned that a product you’re using could put you at risk, you should check the recall databases available through various government agencies including the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the FDA, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
If a product has already put you in jeopardy and you were hurt because of it, George Salinas Injury Lawyers are here to help you. We’ll work with you to understand what legal arguments you can make against the product manufacturer, which defendants could be liable for losses, and how best you can pursue a claim to maximize the money you receive.
What Types of Damages Are Available To Victims in a Successful Product Liability Case?
If your case is successful, you may be entitled to compensation for economic and non-economic damages, such as:
- Past and future medical expenses, including rehabilitation
- Lost wages
- Lost future earning potential
- In-home assistance
- Household services
- Nursing care
- Property damage
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- Diminished quality of life
- Disfigurement or scarring
- Permanent disability
- Anxiety, depression, and PTSD
- Loss of consortium
Every personal injury case is slightly different from the one before. The types of damages you have incurred will depend heavily on the nature of your injuries.
Regardless, you can count on our product liability lawyers in San Antonio to fight for every dollar that’s available in your case. Just give us a call to learn how we can help you fight for fair compensation.
What You Can Do to Strengthen Your Product Liability Claim
There are many steps you can take to try to strengthen your product liability claim. Here are some of the moves you can make:
- Document everything. Record what specific product you used, along with any identifying details such as the serial number or lot number.
- Take photographs or videos: if there is an incident with a product, try to take pictures of the malfunction or problem if it is feasible to do so.
- Report the incident. You can report the problem with a product to the manufacturer as well as to government agencies. For example, the FDA allows you to report serious problems with covered products by calling 888-INFO-FDA.
- Get medical help. As soon as you begin experiencing any symptoms that you believe are linked to a defective product, go to the hospital or go to see a medical professional. Your doctor should conduct a thorough examination, should identify all potential medical issues, and should keep careful records of any health problems that may potentially have resulted from the dangerous product. This evidence can be invaluable in linking your health issues to the product you were using.
- Monitor for studies and recalls. If a study reveals widespread issues with the product or if the government or manufacturer recalls it because of issues, this creates clear evidence showing that the item was dangerous and puts you at risk.
- Consult experts. Experts can testify as to the issues with the product and the reasons why those flaws put you in harm’s way.
You should also contact a San Antonio product liability attorney at George Salinas Injury Lawyers as soon as possible. Your attorney can help you gather the necessary evidence to make a strong case and can work with you on choosing the right legal strategy to maximize the money you receive when a product causes you harm.
Can I Recover Compensation If I’m Being Blamed for Causing My Own Injuries in Texas?
In most personal injury cases, a modified comparative negligence law applies in Texas. If your case is based on negligence, you can recover compensation if you were less than 51% responsible. If you were at least 51% liable, you lose your right to sue for damages.
Strict liability cases are slightly different. Negligence theories don’t apply in cases involving strict liability. Still, manufacturing companies often blame victims for misusing consumer products and causing their own injuries. Even if you did misuse the product, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll lose your right to compensation.
Product manufacturers can often be held responsible if the consumer misuses the product, but the misuse is reasonably foreseeable.
Our San Antonio Product Liability Attorneys Will Fight To Recover Compensation for All of Your Injuries
Defective products can be extremely dangerous.
At George Salinas Injury Lawyers, we often represent clients who have suffered:
- Burns
- Cuts and lacerations
- Broken bones
- Nerve damage
- Soft tissue damage
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Head and neck injuries
- Concussions
- Back injuries
- Organ damage
- Lung damage
- Illnesses, including cancer
- Amputations
- Paralysis
- Catastrophic injuries
- Wrongful death of a loved one
If you were injured, reach out to our legal team for a free consultation as soon as possible.
Our Lawyers Handle All Types of Product Liability Claims in San Antonio, Texas
At George Salinas Injury Lawyers, we handle all types of product liability cases here in San Antonio, including those involving defective:
- Prescription medications and medical devices
- Over-the-counter drugs
- Household cleaning products
- Lawn care products, including Roundup Weed Killer
- Children’s products, including car seats, toys, and furniture
- Household appliances
- Clothing items
- Batteries and electronic devices
- 3M earplugs
- Personal care products
- Sports and recreational equipment
- Work equipment or tools
- Vehicles and safety equipment
- Guns and firearms
- Chemicals
- Vape pens
When products are defective, it’s the consumer who often suffers the most severe injuries. That’s why product manufacturers have a legal duty to test products rigorously before releasing them for sale.
If you were injured due to a defective or dangerous product, our product liability attorneys in San Antonio are here to stand up and fight to protect you. To learn more about your right to compensation, call our law firm for a free case evaluation today.
How Do I Prove Liability in a Texas Product Liability Case?
Most personal injury cases are based on negligence. Victims must prove that someone else’s careless acts caused their accident and injuries.
Product liability claims are different. To recover damages under Texas law, you must establish:
- The product suffered from a defect
- You were using the product as intended or in a reasonably foreseeable way
- You sustained injuries because of the dangerous product
- The damages you suffered
There are three types of product defects: manufacturing defects, design defects, and marketing defects. Any type of defect can render a product unreasonably safe for consumer use.
Manufacturing Defects
Products with manufacturing defects are dangerous because of a mistake during the manufacturing and assembly process. While the product would have been safe if manufactured as intended, it becomes dangerous because of a deviation from the product’s design.
For example, if the wrong size screws were used in assembling a bicycle, that product may become dangerous. Manufacturing defects can impact a single product or an entire batch.
Design Defects
Products with design defects are dangerous even if assembled according to their precise specifications. Something about the product’s design is what makes the product dangerous. Roundup weed killer is one product that may suffer from a design defect because of its chemical composition.
If a reasonable, safer alternative design exists, manufacturing companies are required to adopt the safer design.
Marketing Defects
There are some types of products that cannot be made completely safe. For example, some types of prescription drugs will carry risks regardless of what the manufacturer does during the design or assembly process.
That’s why products come with warning labels and instructions. Product manufacturing companies can also be held liable for failing to warn consumers about non-obvious dangers or for failing to provide proper safety instructions.
How Long Do I Have To File a Product Liability Lawsuit in Texas?
Most injured parties have two years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. Under Texas law, once the two-year statute of limitations expires, you will be unable to seek compensation for your injuries.
Contact a San Antonio Product Liability Lawyer for a Free Consultation
Did you or a loved one suffer injuries due to a dangerous or defective product? You may be entitled to significant compensation from the companies responsible for designing, manufacturing, and selling the product. An experienced San Antonio product liability attorney at George Salinas Injury Lawyers can help you fight to recover compensation, so give us a call or contact us at (210)-225-0909 today.