Can Retailers Be Liable for Selling Defective Products?

Upon purchasing a product from a retail store, you may return home to use it straight away. But even if the product is seemingly harmless, and you utilize it appropriately, there may be underlying defects that make it dangerous. As a result, you may incur seriously damaging injuries and other losses. Continue reading to learn whether retailers can be held liable for selling defective products and how one of the experienced Panama City product liability attorneys at Manuel & Thompson, PA can help you effectively assign blame.

Is it possible for retailers to be held liable for selling defective products?

You may be quick to forgive the retailer in which you purchased the defective product. After all, you may assume that they did not design or manufacture the product, so therefore they should be free from blame. However, quickly eliminating them as the potentially liable party may be a grave mistake. This is because a liable party may even be one who did not technically cause the product to be defective. What matters is that this party participated in placing the defective product on the market.

And so, certain circumstances may point to the fact that the retailer was acting negligently. For example, it may have been the instance that the retailer should have known, or should have reasonably known that the product contained defects. This is especially true if the Consumer Product Safety Commission had previously issued a recall on the product.

Therefore, it should have been the retailer’s responsibility to promptly remove the product from their shelves and overall inventory. In addition, they have the duty of informing consumers who have already purchased the product about its defects; along with what steps the consumers should take to repair or replace the product. If they fail to do so, then they may be held accountable in a product liability claim.

Who else may be held liable for my injuries and damages?

To reiterate, the designer or the manufacturer of the defective product may be potentially liable parties in your claim.

For one, the designer may be at fault if the product was designed to be unreasonably dangerous. That is, there were alternative options that were still time-efficient and cost-effective that would have made the product exceptionally safer for consumer use. Secondly, the manufacturer may be identified as negligent if they do not closely follow the blueprints provided by the designer.

In the end, you must properly identify who is to blame before proceeding any further in your legal action. This may require you to retain proper legal representation. The skilled Panama City personal injury attorneys are the best fit for your product liability claim. Be sure to get in touch with Manuel & Thompson, PA at your earliest possible convenience.