Consumers suffering injuries from the products they buy is an all-too-common occurrence.
Last year alone, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recalled over 9 thousand products. The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) reports over 13 million injuries from consumer products in a single calendar year. Product liability can come in 3 ways. If a defect can be found in the design, manufacturing or marketing, then a consumer will have a case in civil court.
One of the recent defective product examples was the highly publicized recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Nearly 1 million cell phones were recalled after consumers suffered burns and other fire-related hazards. The problem lies with the battery and the company quickly moved to pull the product from the market.
In the short-term, the recall cost Samsung $10 billion. But in the long run, they retained their reputation in the marketplace, as evidenced by the strong performance of the Samsung 8.
Cars are another high-profile area for recalls and product liability. A recent example came in 2015 when Volkswagen endured the “Dieselgate” scandal, wherein their diesel cars were programmed to reduce nitrogen oxide levels during emissions testing. The result was these particular cars exceeding the legal limit for emissions 40 times over. The financial cost of the recall was nearly $15 billion. The public relations damage remains incalculable.
Other industries where defective products can crop up include:
- The clothing industry has to be careful on a number of fronts. Apparel that is not fire-resistant can easily make the company liable for burn injuries. Other potential pitfalls include making sure the fabric is not a skin irritant or that footwear has good traction.
- Asbestos has become the source for a number of product liability lawsuits where injury, damage to property and even death have been caused by contact. Companies have been damaged in court by a “failure to warn” about the risks of their product, which would be classified as a marketing defect.
- Any product in the food industry can become a product liability focal point if contamination causes food poisoning or some other type of illness. These lawsuits more often than not come down to issues of “manufacturing.” In this case, that means examining whether or not the process of food production was in line with sanitation regulations.
- Product liability lawsuits surrounding alcohol and guns open up another arena of legal debate. How much can the company be held responsible for the misuse of its product? If a person is injured by a drunk driver, we know they have a civil case against the driver for negligence (along with the criminal DUI charges the state can file). Can they also sue the company for making the beverage? The same debate surrounds the use of firearms.
States have passed laws holding alcoholic beverage firms liable, although the efforts to do the same to gun manufacturers have had difficulty finding approval from the courts.