Chula Vista Product Liability Lawyer

Were you or a loved one harmed by a defective product in Chula Vista, California? You may be entitled to compensation from the responsible party for things like out-of-pocket expenses, pain and suffering, medical bills, and more. Just about any dangerous product can give rise to a product liability claim, and Mission Personal Injury Lawyers is here to help.

Our Chula Vista product liability attorneys have over 40 years of combined experience assisting personal injury victims, and our law firm has collected tens of millions of dollars for our clients. Since our doors opened in 2010, our personal injury attorneys have served all types of accidents, such as car accidents, Chula Vista truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, Chula Vista bicycle accidents, pedestrian accidents, construction accidents, workplace accidents, slip and fall accidents, and more.

Contact us online or call us today at (619) 722-3032 to schedule a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer.

How Mission Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help With Your Product Liability Case

How Mission Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help With Your Product Liability Case

Defective products are more common than you might think; nearly 12 million people were treated for injuries stemming from a consumer product in 2021. It’s important to hold the at-fault party accountable, whether it’s the product’s manufacturer, seller, or designer. Product liability cases tend to be complicated, as the companies involved will go to great lengths to keep their goods on the market and to avoid class-action lawsuits.

The Chula Vista personal injury attorneys with Mission Personal Injury Lawyers are more than up to the task. We’re award-winning litigators who have been recognized as Super Lawyers and Risings Stars, and our firm was recently named a Best of the Bar Law Firm by the San Diego Business Journal. When you hire our product liability lawyers to assist with your case, we’ll be able to help by:

  • Fully investigating your case to collect evidence and determine the extent and cause of your damages
  • Handling all negotiations and communications with the parties involved in your claim
  • Protecting you from allegations that you’re to blame for your injuries
  • Informing you of your legal options at each step of the process
  • Work with leading experts to strengthen your compensation claim

For more information on how we can help you in Chula Vista, CA, reach out to our law offices by phone or online message.

An Overview of California Product Liability Law

California product liability law protects consumers by allowing recourse when a product causes harm or injury. Any company involved with a given product can potentially be held liable, including manufacturers, retailers, distributors, designers, and wholesalers. 

In California, these companies can be held strictly liable for the harm their defective products cause. Most personal injury cases are based on a negligence cause of action, which requires the injured party to prove that the at-fault party was careless in their actions (among other elements). 

Strict liability cases can be easier for the injured party to prove because they need not demonstrate that the other party was negligent. Instead, the following elements must be present:

  • The at-fault party was involved in the manufacture, sale, or design of the defective product 
  • The product had a design defect, manufacturing defect, or an inadequate safety warning
  • The injured party used the product in a reasonably foreseeable way
  • The injured party suffered harm due to the defective product

There are three major categories of product liability cases, which are encapsulated in the second element listed above. These categories are:

Design Defect

In some cases, the product is defective by virtue of the way it was designed. California has two tests to determine liability in these cases: the risk/benefit test and the consumer expectations test.

The risk/benefit test is used by courts to weigh the benefits of how the product was designed versus the risk it poses to consumers. If the court determines that the product poses an inherent danger not outweighed by its benefits, the company that designed the product could be held liable. 

The consumer expectations test entails evaluating whether the product performs as the average consumer would expect, assuming that they are using the product in a reasonably foreseeable manner. If it doesn’t, the company face liability.

Manufacturing Defect

In other cases, the manufacturing of the product is at issue. In manufacturing defect cases, the product itself is acceptably designed, but one or more of the products were made defective in the process of being built. 

These cases require the court to examine how the defective product(s) deviated from the originally designed product and whether the harm caused was attributable to that deviation.

Failure To Warn/Marketing Defect

This last category of product liability involves a defect in the way a product is advertised or labeled. The company need not warn consumers of every potential danger with their product (such as the blatantly obvious risks) but must provide warnings of risks that the average consumer might not recognize.

Some Chula Vista product liability cases may involve more than one of these categories, depending on the facts and circumstances.

How Much Is My Chula Vista Product Liability Case Worth?

Product liability cases can vary widely in their value, as some may develop into class-action cases that can be worth hundreds of millions of dollars altogether, if not more. Other cases are smaller in scale but can still have significant value. Factors that influence a product liability case’s worth include:

  • How widespread the defect is
  • The type and severity of the injuries that the defect causes
  • The nature of the companies responsible for the product (a large corporation versus a small business, for example)

These are just a few examples. For further insight into how much your Chula Vista product liability case might be worth, reach out to our lawyers for a free consultation to review your case.

What Damages Can I Recover if I’ve Been Harmed by a Defective Product?

You can aim to collect economic damages, non-economic damages, and potentially punitive damages after you’ve been harmed by a defective product in Chula Vista.

Economic damages make up for your financial losses and include things like lost wages if you had to miss work due to your injury, repair costs, and out-of-pocket expenses.

Non-economic damages make up for the other consequences of your injury – pain and suffering, emotional distress, disfigurement, and PTSD are examples of non-economic damages.

Punitive damages may be available in product liability cases where the at-fault party’s conduct was most severe. These damages punish the defendant for their behavior and deter others from engaging in similar activity.

How Long Do I Have To File a Lawsuit in California?

California’s statute of limitations sets deadlines for when each type of lawsuit must be filed. A court of law will not accept your case if you file your lawsuit after the statute of limitations has passed.

For product liability cases, you’ll have either two or three years from the date of your injury to file suit. If your case involves property damage only, you will have three years; otherwise, you will have two. Keep in mind that there are exceptions to these deadlines, however. For instance, you could have additional time to file your lawsuit if you didn’t discover your injury until after the fact.

Reach out to our Chula Vista product liability attorneys as soon as you can if you aren’t sure whether the statute of limitations has passed in your case. This is a determination we can likely make during your free initial consultation.

How Much Does a Personal Injury Lawyer Cost in Chula Vista?

Mission Personal Injury Lawyers works on a contingency fee basis. Instead of paying us upfront to represent you, we’ll take payment as an agreed-upon percentage of the financial award we obtain for you. This allows you to hire our attorneys even if you aren’t in the best financial position, and it also incentives us to collect as much money for your as possible.

We will discuss how this arrangement will work in your case before we get started, but the percentage will usually be around 33%. To illustrate, let’s say we obtain a financial award of $1 million for you, and we agreed to a 35% contingency fee. At the conclusion of your case, we would receive $350,000 of that $1 million.

Contact our product liability attorneys in Chula Vista today with any questions about this payment system.

Schedule a Free Consultation With Our Chula Vista Product Liability Lawyers

The harm caused by a defective product in Chula Vista should not be overlooked. You deserve to be made whole again after a company’s product has caused you a personal injury. Further, you deserve to focus on resting and recovering instead of worrying about how you’ll be compensated.

Mission Personal Injury Lawyers is confident in our ability to provide excellent legal representation. We have a 99% success rate in obtaining compensation for our clients, and we’re ready to put that track record to work for you today.

Visit Our Personal Injury Law Office in Chula Vista

Address:
Mission Personal Injury Lawyers – Chula Vista Office
690 Otay Lakes Rd UNIT 130,
Chula Vista, CA 91910
Phone: (619) 722-3032
Hours: Open 24 hours daily

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Call us at (619) 722-3032 today to begin forming an attorney-client relationship. Your initial consultation is completely free, and there’s no obligation.

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