Defective Product Law

Attorney Glendell Nix explains product liability law in Oklahoma, as well as the rights of individuals who have been seriously injured through the intended use of defective products. To learn more about filing a defective product claim, contact Nix Law Group in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Under Oklahoma law, a product can be defective in three ways. And importantly, if a product is defective, the manufacturer of the product is strictly liable for any injuries caused by that defect. The three types of defects that can be in a product are a manufacturer’s defect, a design defect, or a failure to warn. A manufacturer’s defect is where the design of the product is just fine, but there was a defect in the manufacturing process. For example, a seat belt on a Ford Taurus may be just fine in the way it was designed, but in your particular car, the seat belt had a defect. That would be a manufacturer’s defect because something happened during the manufacturing process in your car. If you suffered an injury as a result of that defective seat belt, you would be entitled to recover compensation for your injuries. A second type of defect is a design defect. A design defect is where the design of the product itself is bad. For example, a saw that could have a guard on it to protect you from getting injured when you’re using the saw would be a design defect. Many years ago, some saws in workplaces did not have certain types of guards on them, but they should have, and could have at very little cost to the manufacturer. When people got injured by those saws, they brought claims saying there should have been a guard over the saw to protect and prevent that injury. Many lawsuits were successful in prosecuting those manufactures for failure to have a guard -that was a design defect. Now most saws you see in workplaces do have protective guards. Another defect is failure to warn. A manufacturer has a duty to warn consumers when there is a danger in a product so the consumer knows how to use the product and what dangers are in the product. An example of a failure to warn case is in drug liability cases. Often times, drugs that are prescribed will have certain dangers and sometimes the manufacturer does not warn, or adequately warn, the consumer of the danger that the drug will cause a certain condition. Then the consumer gets that condition, which can be catastrophic. Then the manufacturer, because it did not warn the consumer of that danger, is responsible for the injuries caused by that drug. Those are the three types of defects in a product: manufacturer, design, and failure to warn. A lot of times, a defective product case arises from the workplace, where someone, especially in an industrial setting, is injured because of some piece of equipment they were using in the workplace, and they have a right to receive workers compensation because they were working on the job at the time of the injury. The injury may have been caused by a product they were working with that was manufactured by somebody else, so there may also be a product liability claim in that setting. If you have questions about product liability claims, or workplace injury claims, please give us a call at the Nix Law Group at 1-405-509-2000, or visit us at our Web site, http://www.oklahomainjurylaw.com.