New Hampshire Product Liability Attorneys

Helping You File a Defective Product Claim

Were you or a family member injured by a product you bought off a shelf or through an online order? The product manufacturer might be liable for the resulting damages, like medical costs, wages missed because you couldn’t work, and your pain and suffering. To figure out if you should file a claim and how to do it, count on Upton & Hatfield, LLP. Our firm is backed by more than 100 years of legal experience, having first opened our doors in 1908. With a background like that and such a strong reputation for success, you know you can trust your claim to our team of New Hampshire product liability lawyers. 

Call (603) 634-9560 or use a contact form to request an initial consultation.

Defective Product Examples

Airbags in cars, prescription drugs, medical devices like hip implants, and even baby rockers have all been in the news in recent years for dangerous defects. How is it that products that are so different can all be defective? Any product can become defective when the product manufacturer is not taking its responsibility to consumers seriously and allows one of the three main types of product defects to occur.

Three primary types of product defects are:

• Design: A design defect occurs in the initial stages of a product’s inception and before it is actually produced, manufactured, or grown. A product that is defective by design can never be considered reasonably safe because the defect is inherent to it. For example, safety goggles made of a thin, brittle glass would be defective by design because such a design could never protect the user’s eyes as intended.
• Manufacturing: A manufacturing defect occurs somewhere between the design process and the point of sale, as in when the product is being produced or made. Such defects can be difficult to track because not all of the same products will be affected by them. For example, a batch of premade bookcases is shipped before the wall mounts can be added to the packaging, making that specific batch of bookcases prone to tipping over.
• Marketing: A marketing defect occurs when the consumer is misled or misinformed while learning about a product, which can happen while watching a commercial, speaking with a salesman, or reading the product’s packaging. Missing information can be just as dangerous as incorrect information, too. For example, a power drill’s packaging never warns the consumer that it can overheat and catch fire if used for more than 15 minutes at a time, creating a fire hazard whenever it is used.

Can You Sue a Company for a Defective Product?

Who is responsible for a defective product that causes an injury to a consumer? For the most part, product manufacturers can always be held strictly liable for the harm their products cause due to defects. Even if you were intentionally misusing a product when you were injured by it, you might still be able to sue the company that made it if the defect contributed to your injury.