Manufacturing Defects

Product Liability Lawyers Advising Consumers in Grand Rapids, Traverse City, and Detroit

If a product causes an accident, you may require medical care and time off work, and you may experience pain and emotional distress. One of the only ways that manufacturers may be held accountable for defective products they put on the market is through product liability lawsuits. Defects are flaws in a product that render it unsafe for its intended uses, or reasonably foreseeable uses. As the victim of a manufacturing defect, you may be able to recover compensation with the help of the Detroit, Traverse City, and Grand Rapids product liability attorneys at Neumann Law Group. Our principal, Kelly Neumann, is an experienced and award-winning trial attorney who has regularly secured more than $3 million in personal injury cases each year for the past several years.

Holding a Company Accountable for a Manufacturing Defect

Manufacturing defects are one of three types of defects that may be actionable in a product liability lawsuit. The other two are design and marketing defects. Manufacturing defects arise when a design plan is not properly implemented, and there is some flaw in the making of the product that renders it unsafe. In most cases, a manufacturing defect is a one-off or occurs in only a few samples from a particular product line.

For example, if a factory worker fails to apply a sealant to a car part, and as a result the brakes in a car fail to work, this might be a manufacturing defect. Similarly, if too little plastic is applied to the latch on a car seat, and as a result the car seat latch does not quite work, resulting in a child being ejected from the seat in an accident, this might be a manufacturing defect. Under Section 2946 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, if an accident was caused by a production defect, you must prove the product was not reasonably safe at the time the particular unit of the product left the manufacturer or seller’s control and that at the time, according to generally accepted production practices, a practical and technically feasible alternative production practice was available that would have prevented the harm without impairing the product’s usefulness or desirability. Under Section 600.2946 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, the trier of fact is supposed to itemize whether a particular loss is an economic or noneconomic loss. The total amount of damages for noneconomic losses will not be more than $280,000, unless the defect caused the permanent loss of a vital bodily function or someone’s death. In either of those two scenarios, damages for noneconomic loss cannot be more than $500,000. These limitations are adjusted at the end of each year. However, the damages limitation will not apply in certain circumstances, such as when the trier of fact decides by a preponderance of the evidence that these losses are the result of the defendant’s gross negligence.

If you are trying to recover damages from a seller other than a manufacturer, there are certain additional limitations imposed by Michigan law. To be held liable, a seller that is not a manufacturer must either fail to use reasonable care with respect to the product, such that the failure is the legal cause of the plaintiff’s injuries, or make an express warranty about the product to which the product fails to conform, and the failure is a legal cause of the accident.

Consult a Product Liability Attorney in Traverse City, Grand Rapids, or Detroit

When you buy a product, you do not expect to suffer injuries because of it. Unfortunately, there are incidents in which manufacturers do not use reasonable care, and as a result a consumer is seriously hurt. In this situation, the Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Traverse City product liability lawyers at Neumann Law Group may be able to help you recover the compensation you need to get through this difficult experience. We represent injured consumers in Petoskey, Warren, Holland, Midland, Muskegon, Saginaw, Wyoming, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Flint, Ann Arbor, and communities throughout the Upper Peninsula, as well as in California and Massachusetts. Contact us at 800-525-NEUMANN or via our online form for a free consultation with an injury attorney.