Augusta Product Liability Lawyer

Every day, we trust manufacturers by using products that we assume to be safe. But, unfortunately, sometimes these manufacturers produce and sell consumer goods that put the user’s health at risk. Defective products can cause serious injuries and even death. The manufacturers that produce and sell these products bear responsibility for compensating people who were harmed or lost a loved one because of a defective product.

If you faced injuries from a defective product, the company that made it may bear liability. They may bear financial responsibility for related losses, such as medical expenses, loss of income, and pain and suffering. An Augusta product liability attorney with The Hawk Firm can assist you in seeking financial compensation, otherwise known as damages, from one or more parties responsible for your injuries. Contact us today to learn more. Contact us for more information.

Benefits of Working With a Product Liability Attorney in Augusta

When you work with an attorney at The Hawk Firm in Augusta, you gain an advocate who can fight tirelessly for your rights. Standing up to a large company on your own might seem daunting, but it can feel doable when you have a law firm.

Our product liability lawyer can:

• Listen to your story: We want to hear what happened to you in your words. The at-fault manufacturer may brush you off, but we can listen to the details of your injury and the losses you suffered.
• Investigate your case: We can investigate the product that harmed you, research whether others faced harm in similar incidents, and document your injuries and losses.
• Identify the at-fault parties: We can determine how many manufacturers contributed to the product that harmed you and identify each responsible party.
• Estimate your damages: We can collect evidence documenting your losses and use it to estimate your damages. We can collect medical bills and receipts, medical records, property repair bills, past wage and tax documents, funeral and burial bills, and more.
• File a claim for you: We can collect supporting documents and file an insurance claim with the insurance provider for each responsible party.
• Negotiate a settlement: We can negotiate a settlement with each insurance provider, ensuring you seek full compensation for your losses.
• File a lawsuit on your behalf: We can sue every responsible party and represent you in court.

Can I Afford a Product Liability Attorney in Augusta?

Clients often assume that hiring a lawyer is always expensive. If your injuries left you out of a job, you may worry more about keeping the debt collectors at bay than hiring a product liability attorney. But our team at The Hawk Firm understands your situation and the situation of so many other personal injury victims. That is why we structure our payments so anyone can get legal help.

Our team works on contingency, which means that our payment depends upon winning your case. If we don’t win your case, we don’t get paid. It’s that simple. We collect our fees from a portion of your jury verdict or insurance settlement, so you never have to pay anything upfront or out of pocket. No matter your financial situation, you can afford a lawyer with The Hawk Firm.

What Is a Defective Product?

A defective consumer product can include anything from medication to car parts, but the defect makes it flawed. So, anyone who buys it may risk harm—even when they use it according to the instructions. Some consumer products contain flaws from the start because of poor design, while others become flawed during production.

Products can prove defective through:

• Defective design: A defectively designed product is inherently dangerous because of flaws in its conception. For example, a children’s toy made to have small parts that pop off, posing a choking hazard to small children, contains a defective design.
• Defective manufacturing: A product could have a safe design, but something might go wrong during its production that makes it unsafe. For example, a batch of over-the-counter painkillers could be contaminated with another substance that makes people sick.
• Missing or inadequate warning label: Some products are safe when used as directed but dangerous if used in other ways. Manufacturers must label their products with clear, unambiguous safety warnings informing consumers of potential risks. For example, household cleaners often come with a label warning people not to consume them. Painkillers often direct users not to take more than a specific amount within one 24-hour period.

Our attorneys serving Augusta can listen to your story, investigate the product that injured you, determine whether you have a valid case, and, if so, which type of product liability case you have.

A Defective Product Injured Me, But How Do I Know if I Have a Case?

Our team serving Augusta has years of experience handling cases like yours, so we have the knowledge and understanding necessary to determine whether you have a product liability case. During your free case consultation, our attorney can listen to your story, determine whether you could have a case, and advise you on the best path forward.

When we listen to the details of how the defective product injured you, we must determine if:

• The product has a defect from its design, manufacturing, or an inadequate or missing warning label.
• The product injured you, and it injured you because of its defect.
• Your injuries caused losses, such as medical bills, for which you can receive financial compensation.
• You used the product as intended when it injured you.

How Much Is My Product Liability Case Worth?

Our product liability lawyers serving Augusta can review your case’s specifics to estimate its potential worth. Every case comes with different circumstances, so we cannot predict how much you could get in your case until we thoroughly investigate your situation. Damages potentially available to you include:

Economic Damages in a Product Liability Case

Economic damages provide compensation for tangible losses you experienced because of your injuries.

These losses could include:

• Medical expenses
• Future medical expenses
• Medical equipment
• Home modifications
• Loss of income
• Property damage

Noneconomic Damages in a Product Liability Case

Noneconomic damages provide compensation for intangible losses like the physical and emotional pain you experienced because of your injuries. While no real price tag exists for your pain, our lawyer has experience determining the value of otherwise priceless losses.

You could recover noneconomic damages if you:

• Experienced severe, acute pain at the time of the injury
• Endure chronic pain because of the injury
• Require multiple treatments or surgical procedures
• Go through a long recovery
• Lose a limb or body part
• Become permanently disabled or disfigured
• Become clinically anxious or depressed
• Lose the ability to participate in hobbies or activities
• Become housebound
• Experience a reduced quality of life

Wrongful Death Damages in a Product Liability Case

Losing a loved one suddenly to a preventable cause can upend your life.

These damages are available to the immediate family of someone who died because of injuries caused by a defective product:

• Funeral and burial expenses
• Medical expenses for treatment your family member received before passing away
• Full value of your family member’s life, which includes their future earnings as well as services they would have provided such as childcare, household chores, maintenance, and more

Common Types of Defective Products in Augusta

Just about any product has the potential to harm consumers if it contains design flaws, manufacturing defects, or lacks adequate warning labels or any warning labels at all. Several governmental agencies—such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC)—regulate consumer products.

However, because of the sheer volume of consumer products in the USA, some defective products slip through the cracks.

Below, find more information about the most common types of defective products:

• Pharmaceuticals: Millions of Americans rely on drugs to maintain or improve their health. Unfortunately, some people don’t get the results they expect because they took contaminated drugs, medications that contain the wrong dosage, have incorrect labels, or lack warnings about potential side effects or negative drug interactions.
• Medical products: Many people rely on medical devices and equipment. Medical devices such as pacemakers, artificial joints, and breast implants can support a person’s internal function, or external function, such as with braces. Others use equipment like wheelchairs and scooters. People who have defective medical implants, such as pacemakers or breast implants, may experience pain or illness. People using defective devices such as motorized wheelchairs may face injuries in an accident.
• Automotive products: We rely on cars and trucks to get us where we need to go, but driving in a vehicle with defective parts can prove extremely dangerous. Defective components such as brakes, tires, steering components, headlights, and fuel systems can lead to an accident. Failing to protect the driver and passengers, defective seat belts, airbags, windshields, and windows can lead to injuries and deaths in an accident.
• Food products: Food preparation must meet strict standards to ensure food safety. In recent years, poor manufacturing practices led to outbreaks of Salmonella and E. coli, which can cause serious and even deadly food poisoning. Food can also become contaminated with pesticides and other chemicals or allergens that can cause severe reactions. Even properly prepared foods can prove dangerous if they do not have a label with the correct ingredients.
• Cosmetic products: Because consumers use cosmetic products on their bodies, they face a serious potential for a bad reaction. Defective makeup, soap, lotion, perfume, deodorant, and other cosmetics can cause rashes, allergic reactions, scarring, and other severe injuries. Contamination and improper labeling often prove common sources of defects in these products.
• Household products: Household products is such a large category that consumers could face a huge range of potential defects. Defective appliances can start a house fire. Poorly constructed furniture can collapse or tip over. Cleaning products can cause chemical burns or release dangerous fumes.
• Children’s products: Children may be too young to understand potential dangers. Defectively designed or manufactured children’s products put babies and children at risk of harm and can cause injuries and deaths. Babies have become trapped in cribs, had their fingers severed by strollers, choked on small toys and toy components, and ingested small magnets that cause internal injuries.

Who Bears Liability for Injuries Caused by a Defective Product?

Depending on the complexity of the product, more than one responsible party may bear liability in your product liability case. If one company manufactured the product but another company manufactured some of the parts, you could seek damages from both. For example, if you were hurt in a car accident because your brakes failed, you could seek damages from both the car manufacturer and the manufacturer of the brakes.

Our Augusta product liability lawyers can thoroughly investigate the supply chain that brought the defective product to you. We can identify every responsible party and help you seek damages from all of them.

What Are the Types of Product Defects?

Obviously, there are many ways a product could be defective or unsafe, but for the most part, they can be divided into three categories. Design defects are probably the most common. Designers are expected to take extreme precautions and run many tests to ensure the product works exactly as intended and doesn’t pose a danger to consumers. Manufacturing defects are another common type. Once the product is designed, it must be manufactured. Quality checks should be done regularly to make sure nothing was made improperly. When these tests are overlooked, a product can get sent out with unsafe defects. The third category is reserved for marketing defects. This is essentially ensuring the way consumers are instructed to use the product is correct and any warnings are given. If these aren’t done properly, people could easily get hurt. If any of these defects occur, a product liability lawsuit can quickly become a reality.

What Types of Injuries Can Result from a Defective Product?

We consume or use many products every year. When a product is defective, it isn’t just wasted money; it could endanger the life of you or a loved one. Defective products regularly result in broken bones, chemical burns, vision loss, or even brain damage. Depending on the product, it could be much worse. We rely on manufacturers to create our cleaning products, clothes, toys, and more. When they don’t take safety precautions, consumers pay the price. Most of these companies, sadly, have one priority and it’s not your safety. That’s right; it’s money. If they know they have a defective product but are far along in the manufacturing process; they may elect that a few lawsuits are worth it for the number of units they’re expecting to sell. This is why product liability lawsuits are so important, to make sure these companies are held liable.

How Much Do Product Liability Lawyers Charge?

It can be intimidating to think about hiring a lawyer, especially when you’re staring at a stack of medical bills and are losing wages from your injury. The good news is that product liability law firms don’t charge you a dime upfront. When it comes to filing a product liability claim, your attorney will work on a contingency basis, getting paid a percentage of what they are able to get you. Product liability claims are complicated, but there is enough money on the line to make the hard work worth it for all parties.

Do I Need a Lawyer to File a Product Liability Claim?

If you or a loved one has been severely injured by a defective product, a product liability attorney can help you. Personal injury attorneys have a strong understanding of the laws in your state and won’t stop until they reach justice. Every case is different, and a proven product liability lawyer will use specific techniques to win your claim.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured by a product, we may be able to help you. Our personal injury attorneys bring a deep understanding of the law, medicine, and other professional fields to the table in order to achieve justice. We use our comprehensive knowledge and proven expertise to expand, create, and refine techniques based on the unique circumstances of each case.

The Hawk Firm Is Ready to Represent You in a Product Liability Case

A defective product can change your life forever, drowning you in medical bills and leaving you out of a job. If a defective product harmed you or your family member, you have the right to recover compensation from the manufacturer. Our product liability attorneys serving Augusta can help. Contact The Hawk Firm today to get started on your free case consultation: (706) 724-8537.

Client Testimonials

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Star Review

“Best Law Firm in the CSRA! Thank you Hawk Firm for handling all of my legal needs with outstanding professionalism! Highly recommend The Hawk Firm to anyone in need of legal services!” -Rob W.