Products Liability

Butler, Vines & Babb has tried to verdict, representing both defendants and injured parties, cases involving toxic torts and products liability in Tennessee, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and has served as consultant with attorneys in numerous other cases.

Overview - Product liability claims are made every day arising out of personal injury, death, or property damage allegedly caused by or resulting from the manufacture, construction, design, formula, preparation, assembling, testing, service, warning, instruction, marketing, packaging, or labeling of any product. These claims may be based upon strict liability in tort, negligence, breach of express warranties, breach of implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, failure to discharge a duty to warn or instruct, misrepresentation, concealment, or non-disclosure, or under other legal theories based in tort and contract.

Numerous potential defendants can be targeted in products liability cases. Claims are often made against manufacturers. Under Tennessee law, manufacturers have been defined to include designers, fabricators, producers, compounders, processors, or assemblers of any product or its component parts. Claims are also made against sellers. Sellers have been defined to include retailers, wholesalers, and distributors. Lessors or bailors can even be considered sellers and thus targets in products liability actions.

A party can be held to be strictly liable for a product if it is found to be defective or unreasonably dangerous at the time that it left the control of the manufacturer or seller. A product is considered to be defective if a condition renders it unsafe for normal or anticipatable handling and consumption. A product is considered to be unreasonably dangerous if it is dangerous to an extent beyond the contemplation of an ordinary consumer who purchases it or because a reasonably prudent manufacturer with knowledge of its dangerous condition would not place it on the market.

Compliance with federal or state statutes or administrative regulations existing at the time of the manufacture of the product raises a presumption that the product was not in an unreasonably dangerous condition. Furthermore, in considering whether a product is defective or unreasonably dangerous, the state of scientific and technological knowledge available to the manufacturer and seller at the time that the product was placed on the market shall be considered by a judge and jury.

A product is not unreasonably dangerous because of a failure to adequately warn of a danger or a hazard that is apparent to the ordinary user. Likewise, if a product has been altered or abnormally used after leaving the control of the manufacturer or seller, the manufacturer or seller will not be held to be liable.

If a product is received in the chain of commerce in a sealed container and subsequently sold still in that sealed container, the seller may be entitled to dismissal under certain circumstances.

Early investigation of products liability claims can be vital. Appropriate steps to preserve physical evidence, investigate relevant scenes (for example fire losses), and take witness statements are all essential to success. Physical evidence needs to be evaluated by a well-qualified expert as soon as possible. Photographs and videotapes of the product or scene should also be taken as soon as possible. Witness statements need to be taken promptly in order to preserve critical evidence. We stand ready to represent you and to promptly take the action necessary to gather and preserve important evidence in order to obtain a successful outcome on your behalf.

Attorneys with the firm that practice Products Liability Law include Martin Ellis ,  James Wright,  Steven Johnson,  Edward Babb, and  Mark C. Hartsoe.

Helpful Links:

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (www.cpsc.gov )

U.S. Department of Transportation (www.dot.gov)

Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov)

Nat’l Highway Traffic Safety Admin (www.nhtsa.dot.gov.hotline)

U.S. Food & Drug Admin (www.fda.gov)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov)