When a person is injured due to a defective or malfunctioning product, it is imperative to get an attorney involved as soon as possible.
Whether it is a vehicle, medical device, or anything in between and beyond, a product put into the stream of commerce for consumers to use should be one that is safe for its intended use. When the product turns out not to be safe and injures the user or someone else, whoever is injured could have a lawsuit against the manufacturer and/or seller of the product at issue, also known as a “product liability” lawsuit.
The injured party could also have a lawsuit against an individual and/or company who rented or leased a defective or malfunctioning product to them that ultimately caused injuries where the renting or leasing party failed to do something prior to renting or leasing the product to ensure its safety, including but not limited to properly inspecting, maintaining, or repairing the product.
One of the most important aspects in a product liability case—and the reason it is imperative to reach out to an attorney as soon as possible when a person is injured by a defective product—is to ensure the defective product is preserved and secured so that the product is available in its current condition for inspection by the person’s attorneys, and eventually by experts hired by those attorneys.
Perserving the defective product is an easy task when the product is in the hands of the injured party, but much less so when the product is one that was rented or leased or operated by an outside party.
If the product is not in the injured person’s possession, his or her attorneys will send what is called a “preservation letter” to whoever has the product at issue, which essentially tells them they must keep the product in their possession and must ensure the product stays exactly the way it was at the time of the injury—meaning they cannot adjust, tamper with, or alter the product in any way—which will ensure they will not attempt to fix whatever the believed defect and/or malfunction is prior to the injured person’s attorneys and their experts getting to inspect the product.
Once that letter is sent, the attorneys will work to secure the product—meaning getting physical possession of the product at issue—as quickly as possible, allowing them to inspect the product and work to understand how the product failed to ultimately cause the injuries sustained. This understanding will allow the attorneys to fully explain the manufacturer, seller, and/or operator’s shortcomings relating to the defective product, enabling them to get the injured party the money they deserve for the injuries they sustained.
When an attorney does not follow these key steps to preserve, secure, and inspect the defective product at issue, they risk the product being destroyed or altered, which can severely hinder—if not completely negate—the injured party’s ability to bring a product liability lawsuit to compensate the injured party for their injuries.
This is why any person injured by a defective product needs an experienced team of attorneys to handle their case, like the Product Liability team at Anapol Weiss.
