Defective Products - Know your rights regarding defective products law

If a product causes an injury during the course of its correct use, then the injured party is entitled to compensation. A defective product personal injury claim can in fact be filed against both the manufacturer and other parties involved in the chain of commerce. This could include the distributor, supplier and the retailer of the faulty product. 

 

There are 3 types of product defects that are included within product liability law. A design defect is when the product is unsafe to use for its intended purpose. The manufacturer could have and should have anticipated the risks and incorporated a design to avoid them. A manufacturing defect is on the other hand is when a product malfunctions despite being designed correctly. This could for example happen when poor quality materials are used in the manufacturing process. The third and final defect is called a marketing defect. This is when proper and complete instructions are not issued alongside the product or necessary warning information is not provided. The manufacturer of any product has a duty to provide information about possible hazards or dangers accompanying their product. 

 

The key piece of legislation regarding defective products and personal injury in the UK is the Consumer Protection Act 1987. This act states that all goods for domestic use must be reasonably safe when being used correctly and anyone who is injured (or killed) by a defective product has the right to claim compensation as long as the injury caused is valued at more than £275. A small cut for example that needed nothing more than a plaster would not be eligible for compensation, but fingers severely injured in a faulty hinge would be. 

 

The definition of unsafe products is one where the safety is sub-standard, and not up the level that people are entitled to expect when purchasing a product. Unsafe products are not those that simply don’t work - they have to actually cause physical damage to either a person or a person’s property in order to be considered “defective”, “faulty” or “unsafe”. 

 

It is always a good idea to get some free advice from a specialist defective product solicitor if you have any defective products complaints. The solicitor will be able to tell you whether there are suitable grounds for compensation and if so, how to go about making a successful claim. Information that will be considered by the courts in a defective product case are when the product was made, whether instructions or warnings were provided and whether the product was being used in the way it was intended when the accident occurred.