Defective Products Lawyer in Washington, MO.

Defective Products Lawyer in Washington, MO. If you or someone you care about sustained an injury because of a dangerous product, get in touch with a Burger law defective products lawyer in Washington, MO immediately at (314) 500-HURT or fill out our online form for a free consultation.

Think of what your daily like looks like: 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 equipment, and/or use your iPhone throughout the day. You may go 4-wheeling on your days off. You may even have a ankle 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 shelves. When there is an oversight in that process and a product becomes dangerous, it can cause serious injuries to you and your Washington, MO family. When that happens to you, you need the accomplished and committed legal services of Burger Law's defective products lawyer team to fight on your behalf and get you the full compensation you deserve.

In our 70 years of combined negotiation, litigation and trial experience, we have won our clients in Washington and throughout Missouri in excess of $170 million. Our initial case reviews are no-cost, no-obligation, so there's no reason not to reach out. Get in touch with a defective products lawyer in Washington, MO immediately at (314) 500-HURT.

If you were harmed by a faulty product in Washington, MO, discover how much your claim may be worth by filling out our free personal injury calculator.



The following are some helpful links and FAQS from your Burger Law defective products injury lawyer in Washington, 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?

Washington, MO Defective Products Statistics

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has found that defective products are responsible for in excess of 29 million injuries and 21,000 deaths every year.

Based on statistics from the Insurance Information Institute, in 2019 the mean average that people injured by faulty products recovered was over $7 million in product liability cases that went to trial, while the median was $2 million. That shows the incredible devastation an unsafe product can cause.

If you were one of the many people harmed by a hazardous product, call a Burger Law defective products lawyer in Washington, MO for empathetic, committed and talented support and legal counsel.

How Defective Products Claims Work in Washington, MO

According to Missouri Revised Statute §537.760, you and your Washington, MO defective products lawyer can make a "strict liability" claim if three conditions are met:

1. The person was involved in the product's stream of commerce.
2. The product was used in a manner easily foreseen.
3. Either or both of the following conditions:
   1. The product had a faulty condition that was unreasonably hazardous when it left the manufacturer's or vendor's 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 "chain of distribution" refers to anyone involved in the product from initial conception to sale, including the person or entity you bought the product from. According to Missouri Revised Statute §5537.762, an entity whose sole connection to the case is that they were the vendor or distributor of the product can avoid liability if:

• You discover who the manufacturer is, it still exists and can afford to compensate you for all of your injuries.
• The distributor signs an affidavit under oath that their only involvement in the stream of commerce was selling it.
• There is no evidence is submitted to the court that the vendor took part in any other aspect of the chain of distribution.
• The motion to dismiss is filed within 60 days.

If the aforementioned conditions are met, the seller would then be dismissed without prejudice, which means the dismissal is temporary at first. So, if later evidence proves that they had a larger role in the engineering of the product than they intimated, were otherwise liable for the fault or the manufacturer is unable to compensate you for all of the economic, physical and emotional hardships you sustained, your defective products lawyer at Burger Law would have them re-entered into the claim and ensure you get the great financial recovery you deserve.

Missouri Revised Statute §537.764 has an exception for "state of the art products," meaning that a hazardous aspect of the product was not known and could not be discovered when the product went to market. This defense is only applicable to for inadequate warning defective products cases, and it is up to the defense to prove that there is no way they could have known about the hazardous condition.

The Difference Between Strict Liability and Negligence in Defective Products Cases

The majority of personal injury lawsuits in Washington, MO are determined by the conception of negligence. We all owe each other a duty of care in certain situations; for example, trucking companies must not overwork their drivers. When someone fails in that duty, for instance if if there a loose floor boards at a restaurant that cause you to fall they may be found liable for your damages and would owe you a financial recovery.

By contrast, most product liability or hazardous products claims are strict liability claims, meaning that anyone in the chain of distribution is to blame for any damage 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 Washington, 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 — at the moment that it came into your possession.

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 imperfection in the design that afterwards affects all products with the same design. An example is vehicles that have a tendency to roll over if the driver swerves quickly.
2. Manufacturing Defects: This refers to a product that was safe in its design but became unsafe because of mistakes in the manufacturing process. This can either only make one product dangerous, i.e. a single vehicle, or several or all of them, as in an entire line of the same model vehicle. An example could be incorrectly installing wires or electrical components or a swing set with a cracked chain.
3. Inadequate Warnings and Instructions: This refers to a product made it through design and production safely but caused injury because it did not give proper instructions or warnings about innate dangers. Examples include failing to warn that a hairdryer might cause an electric shock if it comes in contact with water or not advising an appropriate age range for children if a toy or game is a choking hazard. The company that makes a product generally does not have to warn against dangers that a reasonable person would anticipate. For example, they do not have to warn you that a chainsaw can cut you.

Strict liability is intended to hold corporations accountable and persuade them to implement exhaustive safety protocols for guaranteeing the safety of their products. Even so, too often corporations do not value our safety and spend more energy on their bottoms line than ensuring their products will not cause any damage. When that happens, your Burger Law defective products lawyer in Washington, MO will hold them responsible by conducting a full investigation of your case and demanding only the best possible compensation.

Comparative Negligence in Defective Productions Claims in Washington, MO

A common defense for manufacturers in a defective products lawsuit is that you are responsible for all or a portion of your damages. Missouri Revised Statute §537.765 allows for those in the chain of distribution to posit that you are responsible for a portion of your injuries and, therefore, they are not required to compensate you for your full financial recovery. For example, if a jury determines that you have $100,000 in damages but finds you were 30 percent liable for your injuries, you will only receive $70,000. Often, comparative negligence arguments are an erroneous attempt a manufacturer makes to eschew their responsibility to pay you for the harm they have caused. Your Washington, MO defective products lawyer at Burger Law will not let them get away with it. Under the statute, the defense may argue 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 seller is only has to make a product safe for ways that they can expect a consumer to use it. For example, while chairs are meant to be sat on, it is easy to predict that someone will stand on one. So if a certain model of chair is dangerous to stand on, the manufacturer needs to include a warning not to stand on it. By contrast, if you use a loaded gun to prop a door open and it misfires, you likely do not have a claim because the manufacture would not reasonably foresee that happening.
• You used the product in a manner that was clearly against the manufacturer's intent. With this defense, Someone in the chain of distribution will not be able to totally avoid fault but can significantly reduce it. Say you combine a certain medication with alcohol, producing negative side-effects or leading you to cause an auto collision. A pharmaceutical company could reasonably see someone doing that, but will not be completely responsible because you were being reckless.
• You knew of inherent risks of the product while you were using it. This is often referred to as "Assumption of the risk," a concept in tort claims wherein, if a plaintiff knowingly enters into a dangerous activity, the defendant is not responsible. For instance, if the steering wheel on your vehicle was locking, you neglected to fix it and it caused you to get in an accident, your awareness of the defect and willingness to drive regardless would constitute an assumption of the risk.
• You did not appreciate the dangers of a certain product or activity when a reasonable person clearly would have. For example, you make custom modification to your car's engine despite not being a mechanic. The defense could say that any reasonable person would have known that they could be seriously injured doing such a thing.
• You failed to follow safety guidelines. Putting adequate warnings and safety instructions on a product's labeling can often protect someone in the stream of commerce from liability. 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 obeyed recommended precautions.
• You failed to try to keep your damages to a minimum. In any personal injury claim, you are expected to try to lessen the amount of compensation you are owed. 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 the claim is automatically true. Bullying corporations and insurance companies implement myriad deceitful tactics to try and devalue your claim, but your Washington, MO defective products lawyer at Burger Law knows how to effectively counterattack. We know these companies will try everything to avoid paying you and try to take advantage of people who have never had to make an injury claim before. All you will ever owe is a contingency fee, which means we collect a moderate percentage of the financial recovery you are awarded, and you do not pay us anything until we win your case. Reach out to Burger Law right away at (314) 500-HURT for legal counsel that matches and eclipses that of bullying corporations and insurance adjusters.

Defective Vehicle Parts Lawyer in Washington, MO

Defective vehicles are the most common type of product liability that our defective products lawyer team sees in Washington, MO. In 2019 alone, in excess of 53.1 million recalls were issued both for entire vehicles and individual components. Defective car parts can lead to collisions and fires, and lead to further injuries when the safety components to not function as they should. Common dangerous motor vehicle parts we see are:

• Brakes
• Airbags
• Fuel systems
• Windshield wipers
• Wheels
• Steering systems
• Accelerators

Offroad vehicles like 4-wheelers can also cause injuries, 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 Washington, MO

We trust medical devices to enhance and extend our lives. But, sometimes they can do the opposite and cause us even more injuries when they are defective. Common medical devices that your Burger Law defective products lawyer in Washington, MO has seen be defective include:

• Artificial hips, knees or other joints that can cause infections, instability, pain or recurring dislocations
• Cardiovascular devises, which can result in infections or even wrongful death because of premature failures
• Robotic surgical assistants intended to operate on parts of the body that are difficult for a surgeon to manually reach that, when they malfunction, can result in perforated organs, infections and internal burns
• Blood clot filters that do not sufficiently protect the lungs from dislodged blood clots
• Permanent birth control devices that can pierce organs, result in pain in the pelvic region, abnormal blood loss and unplanned pregnancies

As the medical industry keeps coming up with new technologies, medical device recalls have skyrocketed. In the first three months of 2018, medical device recalls rose by 126 percent, mostly owing to issues with software.

In 2017, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department reported that over a decade Medicare spent at least $1.5 billion to replace over 73,000 defective heart devices alone. We should not have to worry that these highly advanced medical devices might cause us immense pain instead of improving our lives. If a faulty medical device caused you injuries, your Washington, MO defective injuries lawyer at Burger Law will fight for your right to be compensated when your trust was betrayed.

Earlier this year, Exactech, a manufacturer of joint replacements, issued an Exactech Polyethylene Knee Replacement Recall. Their knee replacements were incorrectly packaged and shipped, causing them to do not last nearly as long as they were intended to and have caused unimaginable pain and permanent damage to potentially 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 filed suit on their behalf and are taking on more Exactech Knee Replacement cases to this day. You can view the complaint we filed for our first client by clicking the button below:

View Complaint

Defective Drug Lawyer in Washington, MO

The Federal Drug Administration has strict procedures that pharmaceutical companies must obey from manufacturing to sale. However, the administration uses data from the pharmaceutical companies themselves when deciding whether or not to allow the drug to hit the market. With no absolute independent testing many drugs reach the market without an objective analysis of the potential drawbacks compared to the potential benefits. Too many corporations put profit over the safety of the people who need medicine and treatments that truly help their condition. Currently, it is usually the pharmaceutical company's decision if they will recall a drug that has found to have dangerous side effects. One way to make sure dangerous prescriptions stay off the shelves: call a Burger Law defective products lawyer in Washington, MO to stand up for the vulnerable and let these corporations know that their conduct is unacceptable.

Four thousand five hundred prescriptions and medical devices are recalled in the U.S. each year, and that is often after many people have already turned to them for treatment and relief. If you or someone you love received injuries because of careless pharmaceutical companies and corporations, contact 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 they have caused. Burger Law has already successfully filed suits for families against opioid manufacturers so they can have feel sense of peace for the wrongful death of their loved one.

Other examples of dangerous products we file suit for in Washington, MO include:

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

Every Burger Law defective products lawyer in Washington, MO knows that being harmed by a faulty product can completely upend your life. That is why we endeavor to see the injured in Washington and throughout Missouri get great compensation for all of their damages, not just what the product manufacturer or insurance company wants to pay. When you hire us, we immediately start working on delivering you a financial recovery for all of your medical costs and lost wages, as well as the emotional and physical hardships your injury has inflicted on you and your Washington, MO family. We will fight by your side the entire away and never allow a powerful corporation think they can take advantage of you. Call a Burger Law defective products lawyer in Washington, MO now at (314) 500-HURT or contact us online to start on your journey to a true recovery.