Product Liability
Manufacturers of all products are responsible for alerting and warning consumers about dangers related to their products, and also ensuring that before making an item available for sale, the item is produced to prevent injury-causing failures or breakdowns during normal use of the product. If manufacturers fail to do this and an injury or death results, then they can be held responsible for damages under Wisconsin’s product liability laws. Serious injuries can result from poorly manufactured products and equipment, including traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, paralysis and loss of limb.
Like the rights of medical malpractice victims, the rights of injured product liability victims are facing serious challenges today. Year after year, large manufacturers in Wisconsin and across the nation have lobbied for looser laws and regulations that will give them a decisive legal advantage over consumers in many product liability cases.
Why is there so much pressure for this severe shift in our product liability laws, changes that so clearly favor the interests of Wisconsin manufacturers? After all, out of 301,798 civil legal actions filed in Wisconsin during 2007 there were a grand total of 104 related to product liability, or .03 percent of the total.
There is a simple reason for the extremely low number of product liability cases in Wisconsin, and it is because the existing product liability law does what it is supposed to do: protect the people of Wisconsin from careless, negligent and unsafe manufacturing. In today’s profits-first business world, accountability is the consumer’s only true safeguard from defective manufacturing and design. Only by making the potential legal consequences of products liability too much to bear for manufacturers can we ensure that our safety does not come second to their profit.
One Product Liability Injury is One Too Many
Since 1996, an average of 116 product liability cases were filed in Wisconsin each year; a very low number At Laufenberg, Stombaugh & Jassak, S.C. we believe even one severe injury resulting from faulty or defective equipment or products is one too many. Through 80 years of combined legal service in Wisconsin, we have helped those injured by farm equipment, construction equipment and other heavy equipment, household tools and appliances, yard equipment, sports equipment and sporting goods, defective helmets, defective vehicles and the many other products that become deadly when carelessly produced and manufactured.
We have also seen the devastating, catastrophic injuries that can result from defective products — including dismemberment, paralysis, traumatic brain injuries, and spinal cord injuries. Led by attorneys with experience investigating the many minute details involved in successfully prosecuting a product liability case, we devote all the resources of our office to helping our product liability clients obtain the financial means to make an aggressive and focused recovery from their injuries. For those who have suffered life-changing injuries, permanent disability or the wrongful death of a loved one from a product liability accident, we have helped them obtain financial stability and compensation for their loss.
In every product liability case, we recognize that we are not only working for our clients, but for thousands of consumers like them exposed to the same dangers that caused their injuries. Forcing manufacturers to enforce the safety measures that govern their business can only be accomplished by reminding manufacturers that they are not above the law.
If you have been injured by a defective product, contact Laufenberg, Stombaugh & Jassak, S.C. today for a free review of your case to determine whether you are eligible for compensation.
Case Results for Products Liability:
- Unsafe Farm Machinery – Corn Picker Amputates Both Legs, Arm – $2.9 million
- Man Suffers Burn Injuries From Water Heater Propane Leak – $1.95 million
- Boy Loses Leg in Unguarded Bunk Feeder – $1.4 million
- Unsafe Farm Machinery – Partial Amputations, all limbs, in Corn Picker Accident – $1.2 million
- Unsafe Farm Machinery – Man’s Arm Amputated in Corn Picker Accident – $562,000
- Iowa County Man Injures Leg in Defective Manure Pump – $750,000
- Defective Torch Lighter Injures 3 Children – $700,000
- Texas Man Loses Hand in Improperly Guarded Round Hay Baler – $650,000
- Boy Injures Foot in Unguarded Manure Auger – $380,000
- Boy Loses Fingers in Defective Roller Mill Accident – $360,000
- Door County Man Loses Fingers in Corn Picker Accident – $225,000
- Man Injures Hand, Arm in Industrial Conveyor – $200,000
- Rock County Farmer Disabled in Corn Picker Accident – $180,000
- Facial Injuries for woman after Defective Air Compressor Tank Explodes – $160,000
These results are illustrative only of some cases we have handled. Every case is different and must be evaluated on its own merits.
Library for Products Liability:
Frequent Questions for Products Liability:
- What is the responsibility of a product manufacturer or seller?
- What if the user of the product is careless?
- How do I know if I have a product liability case?
- How does a lawyer decide whether to take my product liability case?
- What do I need to do if I think I have a product liability claim?
- How do I pay a lawyer to handle my product liability case?
- What are the chances that a product liability case will be successful?