Did you recently purchase a product that did not turn out to be what was promised? Or maybe it even caused you and your family harm in the process, then you might want to hire one of the highly skilled Massachusetts defective product attorneys to help you in filing a lawsuit to get the justice you rightfully deserve.
In this article, we table all you need to know about Product liability under Consumer Rights and Consumer Protection Law.
A product in this sense is anything ranging from commodities such as furniture, gas, or even the parts that make a product. If a component that makes up a final product is defective, then both the component maker and the finished product manufacturer may be held accountable. Under the Consumer Rights and Consumer Protection Law, a product is defective if its safety, which includes not only the danger of human injury but also the risk of property damage, is far from what was expected.
A number of factors such as marketing, markings, adequate instructions/warnings, the handling and delivery process, etc. are considered in order to determine the safety of a product.
Defenses to a Claim Under Consumer Rights and Consumer Protection Law
To be adequately prepared when getting ready for your case, you should be aware of defenses that the company might present to the court. Depending on the case, the manufacturer can use a variety of defenses to avoid culpability. They can claim that the customer mishandled or abused the item, or that the customer incurred the risk. Contributory negligence or a lack of direct cause of damage are two more common defenses.
In addition, the law includes a “development risks” defense that applies if the “scientific and technical knowledge” at the time the product was manufactured was not such that a manufacturer of a similar product would have anticipated detecting the defect. This could be especially important in the case of high-tech and innovative items. On the other hand, it has been argued that the law focuses on the state of scientific and technological knowledge as a whole rather than the discovery anticipated by the manufacturer.
How Long Are Manufacturers Responsible?
In America, depending on the state, claimants have about two to six years from the injury date to file a claim. Given the fact that products are sometimes in circulation for a long time, claims are usually not considered after ten years since the introduction of the product in the market. In addition, seeing as damage may not be obvious right away, a two to six-year period is allowed from the day the producer learned about the claim.
To conclude, given the peculiarity of cases like these, it is important to immediately hire a lawyer to begin filing for a claim as soon as you encounter a defective product. The earlier the better, you will also want to make sure you gather all the evidence you need to support your stance. This is also something your lawyer can help you with.
