When a dangerous or defective product injures you, you’ll likely want to seek compensation for your injury. Depending on the circumstances of the incident, you may recover damages from the seller or the manufacturer. Virginia and other states have various product liability laws that include negligence, breach of warranty and strict liability.
Strict liability
Typically, to hold someone or an entity responsible for your injuries, you must prove that he, she or it were acting carelessly. This is sometimes termed negligent. And this negligent behavior must have been the cause of your injury. In a product liability lawsuit, this can be difficult to do. With so many products being sold to the general population, it can be near impossible to track down at what point the manufacturer was careless in its construction of the product that caused your injury.
Due to the difficulties in following the normal standards of personal injury cases, the doctrine of strict liability was established for product liability cases. This allows an injured party to recover compensation from the product manufacturer or seller without having to prove in a court of law how the defendant actually was negligent.
What do you need to prove?
While you have the doctrine of strict liability by your side, to obtain compensation, you’ll still need to prove that certain conditions existed. The first condition you’ll need to demonstrate is that the product that caused your injury was unreasonably dangerous. Second, you’ll need to prove that you were using the product in its intended manner. Lastly, you’ll need to prove that the product wasn’t altered substantially from its original condition.
Product liability cases belong to a unique subset of personal injury law. You’ll need to prove certain circumstances existed as opposed to proving that the defendant was negligent. It’s highly advisable to hire an attorney to assist you with your case.