A product liability is when a manufacturer is held responsible for offering a defective product to consumers. By placing defective products into the hands of consumers manufacturers and retailers are comprising the safety of consumers. When a consumer files a product liability lawsuit they can place responsibility on more than one party in the distribution chain. The manufacturer, retailer, wholesaler, or supplier can be liable for the defective product. Most of these lawsuits fall under 3 categories. Design defect, manufacturing defects, or marketing defects. Sometimes the error is made during manufacturing and sometimes the error is made during the actual design of the product. Product liability cases are quite common and occur within different industries and products. Defective products can be found in a number of industries, such as the automobile industry and children's toys. Listed below are the most absurd product liability cases that have happened in recent years.
1. Mickey D's Coffee
This is by far the most famous product liability case. This particular lawsuit shaped the way fast food restaurants served food and beverages. In 1994 Stella Liebeck poured hot coffee on her body while sitting in a Mc Donald's drive thru. Liebeck suffered third degree burns on her body. As a result she filed a lawsuit against this fast food chain claiming that the coffee was served at an unreasonable temperature. She won the lawsuit and received compensation for her medical bills.
2. Remington Rifles
Remington Rifles model 700 and 710 had a defective firing system. This particular model would fire even when the trigger was not pulled. All it took for this rifle to fire was an accidental bump or nudge of the safety latch. In 1994 a Texas man unintentionally shot himself in the foot while hunting because of this defective model. He won 15 million in compensation.
3. Ledraplastic Bouncy Ball
Francisco Garcia of the the Sacramento Kings filed a lawsuit against the manufacturing company of Ledraplastic balls. In 2009 he was balancing on a ball with weights. The ball burst and he suffered injuries to his arm which kept him out for a portion of the season. Both Garcia and the Kings filed a lawsuit and won. They filed for 4 million in loss of income and 29.6 million in damages.
4. Toyota automobiles
Product liability cases involving automobiles are quite common. In 2010 Toyota was forced recalled a fleet of automobiles because they did not install a certain feature. This feature that was not installed made it easier for accidents to occur when the accelerator failed. This recall received a lot of attention from the media. It also went down as one the largest lawsuits ever filed in history. Toyota agreed to pay 1.1 billion in damages.
If you have been the victim of a defective product, contact us at Colley and Colley.
15511 W Highway 71
Suite 110-142
Austin, TX 78738
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