Defective Products Lawyer in St. Joseph, MO.

Defective Products Lawyer in St. Joseph, MO. If you or someone you love was harmed by a dangerous product, get in touch with a Burger law defective products lawyer in St. Joseph, MO immediately at (314) 500-HURT or fill out our online form for a complimentary case review.

Picture what you do every day: You may have put on some lotion or hair gel in the morning, take allergy medication, go to school or work on a bus, sit by a computer or work around heavy machinery, and/or use your android throughout the day. You may use lawnmowers on your free days. You may even have a joint replacement or other medical device. It seems we're always using or surrounded by some sort of product that has gone through various stages of design and production before it reaches the market. When there is a mistake in that process and a product becomes dangerous, it can cause serious harm to you and your St. Joseph, MO family. When that happens to you, you need the experienced and dedicated legal services of Burger Law's defective products lawyer team to fight on your behalf and deliver you the best possible financial recovery you are owed.

In our three decades of negotiation, litigation and trial experience, we have gotten our clients in St. Joseph and throughout Missouri over $170 million. Talking to us is free, so there's no risk in letting us look over your claim. Get in touch with a defective products lawyer in St. Joseph, MO right away at (314) 500-HURT.

If you were harmed by a defective product in St. Joseph, MO, discover the true value of your case by using our free personal injury calculator.



The following are some useful links and FAQS from your Burger Law defective products injury lawyer in St. Joseph, MO:

• FDA Recall List and Safety Alerts
• Consumer Products Safety Commission Recall List
• U.S. Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Recall List
• Recalls.Gov
• What to Do if You're Injured by a Dangerous Product?
• Can I Sue a Company if Their Product Gave Me Cancer?
• Can I Sue for a Defective Car Part if it Caused My Accident?

St. Joseph, MO Defective Products Statistics

The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that faulty products cause more than 29 million injuries and 21,000 deaths every year.

According to facts from the Insurance Information Institute, in 2019 the mean average that juries awarded plaintiffs in product liability claims was over $7 million, while the median was $2 million. That shows the extreme harm an unsafe product can cause.

If you or someone you know was harmed by a faulty product, call a Burger Law defective products lawyer in St. Joseph, MO for compassionate, devoted and skilled support and legal advocacy.

What is the Process for Defective Products Claims in St. Joseph, MO?

Under Missouri Revised Statute §537.760, you and your St. Joseph, MO defective products lawyer can make a "strict liability" claim if three factors are met:

1. The company was involved in the product's design, manufacture, distribution and sale.
2. The product was used in a way reasonably expected.
3. One or both of the following:
   1. The product was in a faulty condition that was unreasonably hazardous when the product was sold that caused you direct harm, and/or
   2. Your injuries stemmed from a dangerous condition inherent in the product that was not warned of in the labeling or instructions.

The "stream of commerce" refers to anyone that took part in the product coming to fruiting and going to the market, from initial conception to sale, including a distributor or vendor. Pursuant to Missouri Revised Statute §5537.762, a person or company sold the product but were not involved in the design or manufacture of it can be dismissed from the claim if:

• The manufacturer is known, has not closed their business and is financially capable of compensating you for all of your damages.
• The seller signs an affidavit under threat of perjury that their only involvement in the stream of commerce was selling it.
• There is no evidence is submitted to the court that the distributor was involved in any other facet of the chain of distribution.
• The motion to dismiss is filed within 60 days.

If the above conditions are satisfied, the distributor would then be dismissed without prejudice, which means the decision to leave them out of the suit is not final. So, if later evidence shows that they had a larger role in the engineering of the product than they intimated, were otherwise liable for the hazardous condition or the manufacturer is unable to pay for all of your damages, your defective products lawyer at Burger Law would have them re-entered into the claim and ensure you get the great financial recovery that they owe you.

Missouri Revised Statute §537.764 has an exception for "state of the art products," meaning that a dangerous aspect of the product was not known and could not be discovered when the product was introduced to the public. This defense is only applicable to for inadequate warning product liability lawsuits, and the burden of proof is on the defense.

The Difference Between Strict Liability and Negligence in Defective Products Cases

The majority of personal injury cases in St. Joseph, MO are won or lost based on the idea of negligence. We all owe each other a duty of care in certain situations; for example, doctors must treat their St. Joseph, MO patients with a standard of care. When someone is negligent, for example if if you are misdiagnosed because of substandard medical attention they might be held liable for your damages and would have to pay you compensation.

By contrast, most product liability or defective products cases are determined by strict liability, meaning that anyone involved in the manufacture and sale of a product is to blame for any injuries that results the reasonable use of a product, irrespective of negligence. According to jury instruction revisions made by the Missouri Supreme Court, defendant's in a product liability case may be held to the strict liability standard if you and your St. Joseph, MO defective products lawyer can demonstrate that the product was "unreasonably dangerous" — meaning it is unsafe when used as intended or in a foreseeable way — when it left the manufacturer's or distributor's control.

Missouri classifies three different ways in which your defective products lawyer can argue a product was dangerous:

1. Design Defect: A design defect is an inherent defect in the design that afterwards affects all of that product model that go on to be manufactured. An example is an improperly designed safeguard on a power tool.
2. Manufacturing Defects: This refers to a product that was safe in its design but became unsafe because of a failure in the manufacturing process. This can either only make one product defective, for example, one can of soda may have a bug in it, or all of them may contain potentially dangerous chemicals. An example could be installing outdated components or a tainted batch of something intended for drinking containing a poisonous substance.
3. Inadequate Warnings and Instructions: This refers to a product made it through design and production safely but caused harm because it did not give proper instructions or warnings about innate risks. Examples include a drug that is sold without mentioning certain risks or side effects or not advising an appropriate age range for children if a toy or game is a choking hazard. A manufacturer typically does not have to warn against obvious dangers. For example, they do not have to warn you that a match could start a fire.

Strict liability is intended to hold corporations accountable and persuade them to implement thorough safety protocols for ensuring the safety of their products. Even so, too often corporations do not respect their obligation to make safe products and try to focus more on their bottoms line than ensuring their products will not hurt anyone. When that happens, your Burger Law defective products lawyer in St. Joseph, MO will fight by your side and insist on only a full financial recovery.

Comparative Negligence in Defective Productions Claims in St. Joseph, MO

Manufacturers, distributors and anyone else in the chain of distribution will often rely on the theory of comparative negligence when creating their defense. Missouri Revised Statute §537.765 allows for the defendants to posit that you share a portion of the fault and, therefore, they are not required to compensate you for your full financial recovery. For example, if a jury awards you $100,000 but finds you were 30 percent at fault for the accident, your total compensation will only be $70,000. Often, comparative negligence arguments are a deceitful attempt a manufacturer makes to eschew their duty to pay you for the damage their product did to you. Your St. Joseph, MO defective products lawyer at Burger Law will not let them get away with it. Under the statute, the defense may say you bear some or all of the fault if one or several of the following circumstances apply:

• You did not use the product in a way the manufacturer could foresee. A manufacturer or distributor is only has to make a product safe for ways that they can expect a consumer to use it. For example, certain creams or lotions are not intended to be used on your face, but many people will use them there anyway. If the product could hurt your eyes if rubbed on your face, the manufacturer needs to provide instructions specifically not to apply it to your face. By contrast, if you put wheels on a chair and are injured racing it down the street, you likely do not have a claim because the manufacture would not be expected to foresee that happening.
• You used the product in a way the manufacturer did not intend. With this defense, the defendant will likely not be able to avoid liability altogether, but can significantly reduce it but can considerably decrease it. Suppose you crash a car while driving 40 miles per hour over the speed limit and the brakes do not work as well as they should. The manufacturer could reasonably foresee someone doing that, but will not be completely responsible because you were being reckless.
• You knew of inherent hazards of the product while you were using it. This is often called as "Assumption of the risk," a theory in tort claims whereby, if a plaintiff knowingly enters into a dangerous activity, the defendant is not responsible. For instance, you understand that using a sharp kitchen knife can cut you if you are not extremely careful.
• You displayed an unreasonable failure to appreciate the danger that a product's specific use could cause. For example, you were injured while snowmobiling at high speeds in a blizzard on icy surfaces. The defense could say that any reasonable person would have known that they could be seriously hurt doing such a thing.
• You did not take necessary safety precautions. Certain products come with safety instructions that the user has an obligation to follow to protect themselves. If you were injured in a car accident because of faulty brakes, but you were not wearing your seatbelt, the defense can argue your injuries would have been avoided had you adhered to recommended safety measures.
• You failed to mitigate your damages. In any personal injury claim, you have a duty to try to keep your damages as low as you reasonable can. For example, you cannot refuse to return to work when you are healthy enough to do so. The defense may say they do not owe you for a portion of your damages because they are unnecessary or not relevant to the case.

Just because people in the chain of distribution can — and will — try to convince the court that you share part of the blame, that does not mean you will definitely be blamed for part of the accident. Bullying corporations and insurance companies employ myriad deceitful tactics to try and devalue your claim, but your St. Joseph, MO defective products lawyer at Burger Law knows how to combat them. We know these companies will try everything to avoid paying you and try to take advantage of people who do not have the same resources. Our defective products lawyer team works on a contingency fee basis, which means we collect a moderate percentage of the compensation you get, and you owe us nothing until we win your case. Call Burger Law today at (314) 500-HURT for legal counsel that parallels and exceeds that of resistant corporations and insurance adjusters.

Defective Vehicle Parts Lawyer in St. Joseph, MO

Our defective products lawyer team sees in St. Joseph, MO sees more defective vehicles than any other product, both because of how many people use them and because of how many components it takes to make them run. In 2019 alone, in excess of 53.1 million recalls were issued both for entire vehicles and individual parts. Defective car parts can cause wrecks and fires, and fail to protect drivers and passengers from harm as intended. Common defective motor vehicle parts we see are:

• Brakes
• Airbags
• Ignitions
• Electrical wires
• Tires
• Seats
• Headlights and taillights

Offroad vehicles like ATVs can also cause damage, for instance if a design defect gives them a heightened propensity to rolling over.

Your Burger Law defective products lawyer has extensive experience investigating car accident claims and injuries and will consult with experts to determine if your accident was the fault of a faulty vehicle component.

Defective Medical Devices Lawyer in St. Joseph, MO

We trust medical devices to enhance and extend our lives. But, sometimes they actually do the opposite and make our lives worse when they are defective. Examples of medical devices that your Burger Law defective products lawyer in St. Joseph, MO has seen be defective include:

• Artificial joints that can lead to infections, instability, chronic soreness or recurring dislocations
• Cardiovascular devises, which can result in infections or even wrongful death when they do not last as long as anticipated
• Surgical robots intended to operate on parts of the body that are difficult for a surgeon to manually reach that, when faulty, can result in pierced organs, infections and electrical burns
• Blood clot filters that do not sufficiently protect the lungs from dislodged blood clots
• Permanent birth control devices that can pierce organs, cause pelvic pain, excessive blood loss and unwanted pregnancies

As the medical industry keeps implementing more and more advanced technologies, medical device recalls have skyrocketed. In the first quarter of 2018, medical device recalls rose by 126 percent, with software issues being the number one cause.

In 2017, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department announced that over a decade Medicare had to spend at least $1.5 billion to replace in excess of 73,000 flawed cardiovascular devices alone. We should not have to worry that these highly advanced medical devices might cause us extensive pain instead of improving our lives. If a flawed medical device ended up aggravating your condition, your St. Joseph, MO defective injuries lawyer at Burger Law will fight for your right to be reimbursed when your trust was betrayed.

In February 2022, Exactech, a manufacturer of joint replacements, was forced to recall several models of their Polyethylene Knee Replacements. Because of flaws in their packaging and shipping process, the replacements degrade too quickly and have caused unthinkable pain and lifelong damage to possibly as many as 150,000 patients who had the replacement joint implanted. When Burger Law was made aware of the defect by a client, we immediately got to work bringing them what peace of mind we could and are taking on more Exactech Knee Replacement cases to this day. You can read the complaint we filed for our first client by clicking the button below:

View Complaint

Defective Drug Lawyer in St. Joseph, MO

The Federal Drug Administration has firm protocols for the testing, labeling, packaging and shipping of prescription drugs. However, the administration uses data from the pharmaceutical companies themselves when deciding whether or not to allow the drug to hit the shelves. That means that many prescriptions reach the shelves whose potential side effects greatly outweigh their potential benefits. Too many pharmaceutical companies care more about the money they make more than the safety of the people who need medicine and treatments that truly help their condition. Currently, recalling a drug is largely voluntary. One way to make sure dangerous prescriptions stay off the shelves: call a Burger Law defective products lawyer in St. Joseph, MO to stand up to these bullying corporations and let them know that their conduct is intolerable.

Hundreds of thousands of drugs and medical devices are taken off the national market each year, and many of them have already been widely ingested and used. If you or a loved one had your condition worsen because of reckless pharmaceutical companies and manufacturers, get in touch with a Burger Law defective products injury lawyer as soon as possible. We protect the rights of the injured and vulnerable and make sure negligent corporations know how much damage has been inflicted because of their actions. Burger Law has already successfully filed suits for families against opioid manufacturers so they can have some sense of justice for the wrongful death of their loved one.

Other examples of defective products we see in St. Joseph, MO include:

• Children's toys
• Chemicals such as week killer
• Baby powder
• Household appliances
• Industrial equipment
• Cell phone batteries
• Beauty products

Every Burger Law defective products lawyer in St. Joseph, MO knows that when manufacturers and distributors fail to make safe products it can completely disrupt your daily routine, your family and even your present and future financial security. That is why we strive to see the vulnerable in St. Joseph and throughout Missouri recover the best possible compensation for all of their damages, not just what the product manufacturer or insurance company will tell you is acceptable to them. When you hire us, we do not hesitate to start working on wining you a financial recovery for all of your medical costs and lost wages, in addition to the emotional and physical hardships your injury has taken on you and your St. Joseph, MO family. You do not have to go through this alone, and the big corporations do not have to win every time. Call a Burger Law defective products lawyer in St. Joseph, MO right away at (314) 500-HURT or contact us online to take the first step toward being made whole again.