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(314) 500-HURTProduct liability law firm in Pettis County, MO. If you were injured because a manufacturer did not make a safe product, call the Pettis County, MO product liability firm of Burger Law at (314) 500-HURT or fill out our online form for a free case review.
Products are ubiquitous in contemporary society. When we purchase products, we do so under the assumption that have been adequately evaluated for any safety concerns and will not cause us any harm. But too many dangerous products somehow make it to the market. A defective automobile part can cause an accident, a TV or cabinet may be susceptible to tipping over and hurt a toddler and some products like weed killer can even produce cancer. Every personal injury lawyer at Burger Law’s product liability law firm in Pettis County, MO insists on nothing but full compensation for their clients’ injuries.
If you buy a product, there were numerous people and entities involved in getting it from conception to the shelf. Going against a large corporation is not as easy as filing a claim. If they admit your injuries are their fault, their insurance premiums will skyrocket and it opens them to a class action lawsuit. But you have rights when products are unsafe, and with the experienced Pettis County, MO lawyers of Burger Law fighting on your behalf, these negligent organizations will be held responsible.
Fill out our complimentary personal injury calculator to see how much compensation you are owed in Pettis County, MO.
In 2021, Over 11 million people went to the emergency room because of injuries related to consumer goods. Pre-pandemic emergency room visits due to defective products were just below 15 million. According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, fatalities, injuries and other damage from consumer goods cost the U.S. over $1 trillion annually, and consumer goods lead to over 29.4 million injuries and 21,400 fatalities each year.
According to data gathered by the Insurance Information Institute, product liability claims have the highest average jury awards of all injury claims. The median verdict in 2020 was just over $7 million, while the mean average was $3,908,111. For claims that were not decided at a jury trial, the middle 50 percent of all awards was between $20,000 and $505,000. The numbers indicate how devastating the consequences of a defective product can be.
In Missouri, you can bring a product liability claim based on one of three legal theories:
The vast majority of personal injury claims are based on the doctrine of negligence. If you are making your claim under the legal theory of negligence, you must prove the following five things:
Examples of negligence in Pettis County, MO product liability claims may be that a manufacturer did not properly check for safety hazards before putting the product on the market, or that they did not issue a recall once becoming aware the product was dangerous.
In Missouri, the theory of strict product liability laid out in Missouri Revised Statute §537.760 stipulates that anybody involved in the chain of distribution can be found liable for your injuries, regardless of whether they owed you a duty of care and breached it. Someone can can be considered strictly liable if the following is true:
They transferred a product in the course of their business; and
In order to prove a strict liability claim, you must show that your injuries resulted from a condition or defect, that the defect was an unreasonably dangerous one and that the defect existed at the time it left the manufacturer’s control. You do not have to show that the defendant breached a duty of care.
In order to prove a strict liability claim, you must prove that your injuries resulted from a condition, that it was an unreasonable hazard and that the condition existed at the time the product it left the manufacturing facility. You do not have to show that the defendant breached a duty of care.
Most products are covered by a warranty; we expect products to function as we were promised they would. When they do not, that constitutes a breach of warranty. There are two categories of warranties:
While you do not necessarily have to prove that a manufacturer, distributor or vendor was negligent, there are other factors to determine whether or not you have a claim. Making a successful product liability claim in Pettis County, MO depends, in part, on how you can answer a few questions::
If you think you may have a claim, call the Pettis County, MO product liability law firm of Burger Law now at (314) 500-HURT. We use our honed investigation skills to hold negligent organizations accountable when their products injure innocent people.
Pursuant to Missouri law, anyone in the stream of commerce can be required to compensate you, including:
Pursuant to Missouri Revised Statute §537.762, someone whose only role was to act as a vendor, they can file a motion to dismiss themselves from the lawsuit if:
This statute works to protect you, as it ensures you can make a claim against the vendor if there is no one else to make a claim against. Additionally, if the manufacturer or distributor is not financially able to give you full compensation, the seller is required to step in and pay you the rest of what you deserve.
We have used the term “reasonable” often so far, and it revolves around whether you used the product in an appropriate way, and whether or not the product presented an unreasonable risk of harm. The term “reasonable” is key to most injury lawsuits. Individuals and organizations need to act as an ordinary, responsible person would when trying to avoid harming others. If a trucking company forces a driver to driver longer than Federal regulations allow, they are not being reasonable.
In a product liability case in Pettis County, MO, the outcome of the case will partially depend on whether or not you acted reasonably. If you were if you were following a chainsaw’s directions, but the chain slipped and injured you, the fact-finder would likely find that you had acted reasonably. If you were wielding a chainsaw over your head, your likelihood of receiving compensation would likely be significantly reduced as that was not reasonably anticipated use.
Manufacturers, vendors and distributors are also held to the same reasonableness standard. Some products, such as drain cleaners or chainsaws, carry inherent risk. For others, there is no reason to think we will be harmed when using it as we should. A car that’s brakes go out while the driver is following the rules of the road is an example of a product that is unreasonably dangerous. A product can be unreasonably dangerous in one of three ways:
A common defense in product liability claims is that a manufacturer is not liable because you did not use the product in a reasonably foreseeable manner. The Pettis County, MO products liability law firm of Burger Law has been fighting back against these companies for over three decades, and will will hold them responsible for the harm they caused.
The most important things to do after any injury is make sure no one is in danger of further harm, and promptly seek medical attention. Even if you do not think your injuries are serious, it is still a good idea to make an appointment with your primary care physician to get checked out. After getting medical treatment, if you have been injured by a dangerous product, there are several crucial steps you should take:
Your financial recovery is meant to compensate you for all of the negative consequences your injuries have had; no more, no less. While the defendants will use numerous tricks and tactics to minimize your damages, with the devoted and aggressive Pettis County, MO product liability law firm of Burger Law, you can receive compensation for:
Certain factors, such as if your injuries lead to permanent disability or whether or not we can pursue punitive damages, can greatly increase your compensation.
When it comes to getting you damages in your case, we are never satisfied with 50 percent, 75 percent or even 95 percent. We fight until there is nothing left to fight and you get the settlement or verdict that truly compensates you for your injuries.
Our Pettis County, MO product liability law firm has over seven decades of combined experience litigating and trying defective product claims. We are used to companies falling back on a horde of trial defense attorneys to try to have the case thrown out, blame the injured for the harm their products caused or mislead a jury into thinking that the company does not bear responsibility. Through our experience, dedication and hard work, we have learned how to fight back against ridiculous defense strategies, hold negligent manufacturers, distributors and vendors accountable and bring the injured a sense of justice.
If a dangerous product injured you, there is a good chance someone else has been hurt as well. Currently, Burger Law is part of two class action claims with the goal of securing compensation for people in Pettis County, MO and in other parts of the nation who have been injured or suffered financial loss because of a dangerous product.
Exactech is a company that designs and manufactures orthopeadic implants. Our Exactech recall lawsuit seeks compensation for three different defective implants:
The packaging for the joint replacements did not contain a crucial second barrier layer of Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol, even though it was included in the design and was needed to protect the joint replacements from exposure to high levels of oxygen. Too much oxygen leads to oxidation, which can cause the joint replacements to fail much sooner than expected. For some Exactech insert recipients, the joint replacements led to the following damages and injuries:
While Exactech has issued refunds for their product, Burger Law’s Pettis County, MO product liability law firm is seeking justice for the physical and emotional harm that Exactech caused through their negligence.
Ferrari recently recalled almost every Ferrari vehicle sold across the nation from 2005 and 2022. In our Ferrari brake recall lawsuit, we lay out how Ferrari and manufacturer Robert Bosch installed faulty brake fluid reservoir caps, may have known about the defect since as early as 2015 and should have caught the defect through testing.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued two different recalls for different Ferrari models in Oct. 2021 and Jul. 2022. While a manufacturer must fix any motor vehicle component recall for free, doing so does not compensate anyone for other damages they sustained. Burger Law will a secure a financial recovery for Ferrari owners for:
Find out more about the Ferrari brake recall lawsuit here, or by clicking the links below:
If you are an Exactech joint insert recipient or Ferrari owner in Pettis County, MO who sustained losses because of the manufacturer’s defective products, tell us about your case to see if you qualify.
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