Written by: Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers
Last Updated : January 6, 2022
New Jersey Defective Products Liability Lawyer
Our trial lawyers hold powerful corporations fully accountable for defective products. Contact Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers to discuss your case.
Did you suffer serious injuries or was your loved one killed by a dangerous or defective product in New Jersey? You deserve to get justice and Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers can help you get it. Our firm will be committed to fully investigating the cause of your defective product and making sure all negligent parties are held accountable.
When you buy a consumer product, you have the right to expect it will be safe for any reasonably foreseeable use. Unfortunately, every year, manufacturers place dangerous, defective products on the market, injuring hundreds of thousands of consumers and even causing wrongful death. If you’ve been injured by a defective product, you are entitled to recover personal injury damages, such as medical costs, lost earnings, and compensation for your pain and suffering. But holding a large corporation accountable for their misdeeds is a daunting task.
These companies are determined to protect their bottom line, so they defend products liability cases vigorously. You have a tough burden of proof, and they have deep legal resources and many defenses under the law. Under such circumstances, you must retain knowledgeable, skilled, and determined representation to fight for your rights. At Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers, we have a strong track record of success against powerful opponents. We have recovered more than $300 million dollars in compensation for injured clients, including large recoveries for victims of defective products.
Do I Need A Defective/Dangerous Products Lawyer?
Even when a person knows that the product that harmed them was dangerous or defective in some way, you should never expect a manufacturer to be willing to admit as much. The typical response from manufacturers to most defective product claims is that the users were the parties at fault and they somehow used a product incorrectly.
An attorney is going to be beneficial to you because they are going to conduct their own independent investigation into your accident. A lawyer can work with experts when necessary to get answers as to how a product was defective or became dangerous.
You can take a number of steps that will help your injury claim, with the most important being you ensuring that you receive medical attention as soon as possible after a defective product accident, even if you do not think you were hurt. Another valuable step can be for you take as many pictures as you can of your accident scene, and also try to retain as much of the product and its original packaging as you can and store it somewhere safe where it cannot be accessed by other people.
You could find yourself dealing with an insurance company for the negligent party soon after your accident, and you will want to let an attorney handle all conversations with insurers on your behalf. Never provide any kind of recorded statement, as many people unknowingly admit to certain forms of negligence during these statements that are then used against them to reduce or possibly deny injury claims.
Why Choose Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers To Handle My Defective/Dangerous Products Case?
Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers has decades of experience with personal injury litigation and have recovered over $300 million for our clients. We have been ranked a Top 40 Law Firm by the New Jersey Law Journal.
Edward P. Capozzi is a member of both the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum who recovered least one (and as many as three) of the top 20 verdicts or settlements in New Jersey every year from 2012 to 2018. Super Lawyers Magazine also named him a Super Lawyer every year between 2011 and 2018.
Keith J. Roberts is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a civil trial attorney and is one of a select few attorneys to serve on the New Jersey Insurance Commissioner’s Technical Advisory Committee on PIP (PIPTAC). He is a member of the Bergen County Bar Association, New Jersey chapter of the American Trial Lawyers Association, and Health and Hospital Law Section of the New Jersey Bar Association who also serves on the Advisory Council for Arbitration of No-Fault Disputes in New Jersey.
Charles X. Gormally is a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association and American Bar Association who has also been certified as a civil trial attorney by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. He has been licensed in New Jersey since 1979 and New York since 1990.
You will also want to choose Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers because you will not have to pay anything upfront for our help. We can represent you on a contingency fee basis so you will only pay when you receive a monetary award.
Common defective products causing harm to consumers in New Jersey
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates the overall costs of defective products to be as much as $700 billion annually. Common products with defects that frequently injure consumers include:
- Auto parts, such as ignition switches, gear shifts, brakes, tires, and airbags
- Children’s toys, clothing, and furniture
- Hot water heaters
- Household appliances and electronics
- Industrial and household chemicals
- Medical devices
- Power tools
- Pharmaceutical drugs
- Agricultural equipment
- Construction tools or equipment
- Manufacturing equipment
- Tainted food
- Car seats
- Heavy machinery
- Bedding and clothing
- Electronics
- Cosmetics
The New Jersey Product Liability Act (NJPLA) is the sole basis for relief for people injured by defective products in New Jersey and controls all claims or actions caused by products, except for harm caused by a breach of express warranty. The NJPLA relates to causes of action for negligence, misrepresentation, implied warranty, and Consumer Fraud Act violations under a theory of strict liability.
Types of defects in New Jersey product liability cases
There are three types of product defects for which an injured consumer can recover compensation:
- Design defect — Cases of this sort deal with a poor plan for a product, so that there is an inherent flaw in the conception of the product that renders it unreasonably unsafe.
- Manufacturing defect — In these cases, the design was sound, but a problem with the manufacturing process produced a flaw that makes the product unreasonably unsafe. The defect can be due to poor materials, workmanship, or process.
- Labeling defect — When a product is inherently dangerous, it can be rendered reasonably safe if there are adequate warnings about the risk. However, when the warning labels fail in their purpose to alert the consumer, producers can be liable for label/warning defects.
With defective products, producers are usually held to a strict liability standard, so the plaintiff does not have to prove the producer was negligent. Rather, to prevail in a products liability case in the Garden State, a plaintiff must prove these four elements:
- The product was defective
- The defect existed when the product left the defendant’s control
- The defect caused the plaintiff’s injuries
- The plaintiff was a reasonably foreseeable user
These elements require precise proof, which generally relies on expert testimony. We consult a range of experts in the specific field related to the type of product that produced your injuries to assemble the evidence necessary to make your case. However, our task is further complicated by case law and defenses available to the producer.