St. Louis Product Defect Lawyers

If you are looking for a St. Louis product defect lawyer, you came to the right place. The Bradley Law firm recently set a record settlement for a young paralyzed man and our attorneys stand ready to help you.

A product liability lawsuits hold manufacturers, distributors, and/or sellers of defective products responsible when they cause injury or death. Defective products are responsible for thousands of men, women and children being seriously hurt or killed each year.

What is a product liability claim?

A product liability claims usually falls within one of three categories:

Defective Design: This is where a product’s design is defective.
Defective Manufacture: This is where the design was fine but the product was defectively manufactured or not produced according to the manufacturer’s intended design and was therefore defective.
Failure to Warn: This is where a manufacture fails to warn the purchaser of the product’s dangers. In Missouri, these claims are subject to a “state of the art” defense set forth in RSMO 537.764.

Product liability cases can be premised on common law negligence (where you must prive negligence) or strict liability (where negligence does not need to be proven). Sometimes, product liability claims can also be premised on contractual theories such as breach of warranty. In addition, the three types of product defect cases can overlap, resulting in multiple theories alleged in the same lawsuit. A defective product lawyer can determine what kind of case you have.

Types of product cases we handle

Farming equipment;
Vape pen explosions;
Electronic cigarettes;
Defective water heater and natural gas explosions;
Dangerous gym and workout equipment;
Crashworthiness claims against auto manufacturers;
Unintended acceleration;
GM ignition switch cases;
Lithium ion battery explosions;
Airbag failure to deploy cases;
Tire rim explosion;
Takata airbag shrapnel cases;
Tire separation;
Defective seat belts;
Child car seats;
Children’s toys;
Smoke and fire detectors;
Propane tank explosions;
Rebreathers used by firefighters, underwater drivers and climbers;
ATV / UTV rollover cases including Polaris Rangers, Yamaha Rhinos, Artic Cat Prowler, and other side-by-sides;
Motorcycles and dirt bikes;
Construction equipment;
Drug and medical devices; and
Food poisoning cases.

Missouri product liability laws

Missouri product liability law holds manufacturers, distributors and sellers of defective products responsible for the safety of their products. Missouri statute 537.760 defines a “product liability claim” as one where:

The defendant makes a product in the course of its business and sells it;
Someone uses it in a way that the defendant could reasonably anticipate (this includes anticipated misuse); and
The product was defective and unreasonably dangerous when sold; and
The product causes an injury.

Seller liability in Missouri for defective products

Under Missouri law, if you buy a defective product from a retailer like Walmart, Target, Walgreens, Home Depot, Lowe’s, etc., statute 537.762 allows for the seller to be dismissed from the lawsuit as long as a “total” recovery can be had from the manufacturer. Note this law may result in the seller remaining in the lawsuit if the manufacturer is a) not in the lawsuit, or b) is in the lawsuit, but a “total” recovery cannot be had, meaning if the manufacturer has limited assets or insurance, the seller may be held responsible.

The impact of defective products on society?

Defective products have claimed thousands of lives and injured thousands of people. Thankfully, through the hard work of defective product attorneys and the federal government passing regulations controlling how certain products are manufactured manufacturers, distributors and sellers of dangerous products are forced to stop selling these products or made to make the products safer for consumer use.

What does the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) do?

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is a federal agency, which requires manufacturers self report instances involving personal injury or death. According to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, product defects have caused over twenty thousand deaths and almost 30 million injuries. In our experience, however, manufacturers intentionally subvert mandatory reporting by entering into confidential settlements with individuals hurt by their defective products. Any injury lawyer handling these cases must know the CPSC loopholes to expose instances of intentional concealment (lying) to the CPSC.

How do product defect lawyers make things safer?

Without the hard work and dedication of product liability attorneys, companies would be free to make products that pose unreasonable dangers to you and your family. This means you and your family are safer because of these lawsuits and the juries that hold them responsible.

Unfortunately, many countries are not as advanced as the United States and do not mandate safe products for families and children. As you can imagine, many of these products are barred from importation to the United States.

Why do I need a lawyer to handle my product defect claim?

Product liability lawsuits are extremely complex are require experienced product liability lawyers to handle these types of cases. It is imperative to contact competent and experienced attorneys to pursue your product defect claim. The sooner you contact us to investigate your case, the better. These cases are time sensitive and if you do not move quickly to secure evidence, it can be destroyed or lost forever, especially if it is incriminating to the product manufacturer.

The product liability lawyers at The Bradley Law Firm have decades of experience handling product liability lawsuits and have recovered millions of dollars for clients harmed by defective products.

Our references

Upon request, we can place you in touch with one of our past clients we helped on a product liability case. Contact our product defect lawyers today and get a free consultation.