WHEN A PRODUCT FAILS UNDER NORMAL USE

We all buy certain products to be used for very specific purposes.  A ladder is intended to be climbed.  A bicycle is to be ridden.  A gas grill is to be cooked on.  Products should obviously be safe for their intended use.  When they fail under normal, expected use, in the legal world that is called a malfunction.  When a product malfunctions and a person is injured as a result, that can lead to a relatively simple legal case.

A very simple example of this is a case involving a protective athletic “cup” marketed specifically to lacrosse players.  We have a case in which the cup was struck by a thrown lacrosse ball.  Instead of protecting the lacrosse player who was wearing the cup, the product shattered, resulting in very serious injuries to the young man.  The cup was relatively new and had not been subjected to any significant prior impacts or misuse of any type.  This naturally makes for a simple, straightforward case of product defect against the manufacturer.

Other examples we’ve seen of consumer products failing under normal use include a step stool that collapsed when a woman stepped onto it; A bicycle front fork that broke in half while the bicycle was being ridden and a kitchen chair that failed when being used. 

These types of malfunctions/failures usually reveal a design problem.  There is often a design flaw that becomes obvious when an accident happens and someone gets hurt.  Other times, we find that there was a problem with the manufacture or assembly of the individual product involved in the accident – in other words, this particular item was not manufactured the way it was supposed to be.  In either case, the manufacturer and supplier of the malfunctioning product is strictly liable for the injuries that result from the defect.