There are thousands of products on the market targeted at infants, toddlers, and children. As consumers and parents, we depend on manufacturers and retailers to create and sell safe products for our kids. Unfortunately, defects can still occur due to design flaws and manufacturing errors. In some cases, the issue comes down to inadequate warnings. Even products that are generally safe and widely used can pose serious risks when something goes wrong in the production or labeling process.
If your child was injured due to a defective product designed for kids or the home, you may have the right to pursue a defective product claim. Consulting with an attorney can help you understand your options and what steps may be available to seek compensation for medical expenses and other damages.
Injury Claims for Defective Products
If your child was injured by a defective product, it is essential to understand your legal rights as well as the legal rights of your child to secure medical care, protect your family’s financial stability, and hold all negligent parties accountable.
An experienced child injury attorney can support your family through this challenging time by identifying who may be liable for your child’s injuries and pursuing a defective product claim to help you recover the maximum settlement.
Defective Product Injury Statistics
In 2024, 15.1 million people were treated in emergency departments for injuries resulting from consumer products. Most of the injuries involve everyday products such as shelves, beds, televisions, baby gear, and household cleaning products that are generally assumed to be safe. Many of these injuries occur to our most vulnerable populations: older adults and young children.
Children ages 0-4 are at particularly high risk for injuries from defective products. Common child injuries include choking or asphyxiation from small parts, severe lacerations from sharp edges, head or spinal trauma from falls out of defective strollers and cribs, and internal chemical burns from batteries being swallowed.
Determining Liability in Defective Product Cases
Understanding who may be responsible for an injury your child sustained as a result of a defective product is an important first step in protecting your child’s rights and pursuing the compensation your child and family may need.
Most defective product claims are based on strict liability, which means a company can be held responsible even if it did not intend to cause harm and even if it didn’t know the product was dangerous at the time. In some cases, more than one party may share responsibility:
Manufacturers. Manufacturers may be responsible if the defect happened during the making of the product. This can include errors in assembly, poor quality control, or using unsafe materials.
Product designers. Product designers may be liable if the product was not designed safely from the start. A design flaw can make an entire product line dangerous, even if it is made correctly.
Component part suppliers. Suppliers can be responsible if they provided a faulty part that was used in the final product. Even one unsafe component can cause the whole product to fail.
Distributors. Distributors may be liable if they handled, stored, or transported the product in a way that caused damage or made it unsafe before it reached stores or consumers.
Retailers. Retailers may be responsible if they sold a product they knew (or should have known) was unsafe, or if they failed to remove recalled or defective items from their shelves.
How a Personal Injury Attorney Can Help
A product liability lawyer can help by thoroughly investigating the incident that caused the injuries, identifying all potentially responsible parties, and gathering the evidence needed to build a strong claim. An experienced attorney understands how to navigate defective product claims against all types of parties to pursue compensation for medical expenses, future care needs, pain and suffering, and other losses. Having legal guidance allows parents to focus on their child’s recovery while protecting their family’s legal rights.
Contact a Child Injury Lawyer Today!
A child injury lawyer can help you recover a full and fair settlement for the injuries sustained to your child caused by the negligence of another. We know the sneaky strategies used by insurance companies to get injured people to agree to settlements far below what they are worth. There are no up-front costs to you to file a claim and our clients typically end up with a settlement or jury award that is five to ten times larger than they could have negotiated on their own. We have been representing residents of Whatcom County, Skagit County, Island County and Snohomish County who were injured in Washington State since 1979. Contact the experienced and hard-working child injury lawyers at Tario & Associates, P.S. in Mount Vernon, WA today for a FREE consultation!
