Delaware Product Liability Lawyers

Representing Victims of Unsafe or Defective Products

Manufacturers are responsible for the safety of consumers when their products are used as intended or in a reasonable way. The public has a right to expect that a product has been designed and tested with the consumer’s safety in mind. A product’s manufacturer as well as the designer, distributor, or installer may be liable for damages for an injury or fatality resulting from a safety defect or a failure to warn of dangers.

The law firm of Rhoades & Morrow has brought product liability lawsuits against all types of corporations, from manufacturers of construction equipment and workplace machinery to makers and distributors of consumer goods.

Examples of defective products include, but are not limited to:

Auto defects – Defective air bags or seatbelts, sudden acceleration, and brakes that fail can all increase the driver’s risk for auto accidents. Truck accidents and motorcycle accidents can also be the result of product defects.
Dangerous household products – Household chemicals and products in medicine cabinets without clear warning labels can pose numerous hazards.
Home appliances – Defects can cause gas line explosions or injure the user with electrical shocks and burns.
Home improvement appliances – Power tools, ladders, and lawn mowers can cause serious injuries if defective.
Workplace equipment – From heavy machinery malfunctions to defective construction power tools, these accidents can cause catastrophic and life changing work injuries.
Medical products – Hip replacements, power morcellators, transvaginal mesh devices and pacemakers are all products meant to improve health, but if they are defective can injure or kill consumers instead.
Chemical products – Exposure to toxins can cause tremendous harm.
Pharmaceutical drugs – Unforeseen or unadvertised dangerous side effects.
Children’s toys, furniture, and playground equipment – Defective children’s products can result in injuries such as choking, broken bones or fractures, burns, suffocation or eye injuries.

Holding Negligent Parties Accountable

If you have been injured by reasonable use of a consumer product, product liability law provides you with legal recourse to recover compensation.

Delaware law differs from other states in that product liability claims may not be brought based on a theory of strict liability. However, injured victims of dangerous products may bring actions based on negligence or breach of warranty.

The three types of negligence claims are:

Design defect – A design defect claim alleges that the design of the product is what caused the subsequent injury to the user.
Manufacturing defect – A plaintiff can bring a manufacturing defect action against the manufacturer if the product’s flaw arises from the manufacturing process.
Failure to provide adequate warnings – Sometimes the manufacturer is negligent in warning consumers about unreasonable dangers that exist related to use of the product, in which case a failure to warn action is appropriate.

Product Liability in a Workplace Accident

Many workers use dangerous and complex machinery every day as part of their jobs. A defect in any part of their equipment could result in debilitating injuries or disabilities that prevent them from returning to work and earning a living, or worse – fatalities that leave family members on their own.

In such cases, Workers’ Compensation is available to most workers and their families, but that is not your only option. When a defective tool or machinery causes injury or death to the worker who was using it for the job it was intended to do, a third-party product liability or wrongful death lawsuit may be possible in addition to a Workers’ Compensation claim.

Product liability lawsuits are often complex and the circumstances surrounding each case are unique. There are many potential parties that can be held liable and each will need to be investigated. At Rhoades & Morrow, we use an established network of experts to help prove liability and detail your medical, financial, and personal losses from a defective product accident.