One of the most important things to remember about product liability lawsuits is that the manufacturer may not be the only defendant or a defendant at all for a defective product lawsuit. Depending on the nature of the injury and the element of the product that caused it, you may have several defendants in your case. Generally, anyone along the supply chain from raw materials suppliers to assemblers to retailers may be defendants in a product liability lawsuit but a seasoned Long Beach injury attorney can help you identify the party or parties that can be held liable for your injuries.
Any person who could foreseeably prevent an injury from a defective product could potentially face lawsuits from injuries, making it crucial for the producers and purveyors of consumer products to ensure the safety of those products. Strict liability applies in most of these cases, meaning that manufacturing the product or preparing it for customer purchase must be part of the defendant’s regular course of business. For example, a person who sells a defectively manufactured used lawnmower at a yard sale wouldn’t technically be liable for any injuries the product caused, but the manufacturer or the retailer who sold it could be liable.