Product Liability Lawyers in New York

You buy a product expecting it to work, not to hurt you. When a defective machine, medical device, vehicle part, or household item causes an injury, New York law gives you a way to hold the companies responsible, and it puts the burden where it belongs.

These cases are technical and the defendants are usually large corporations with deep resources. We prepare them for trial, bring in the right engineers and experts, and represent you as one of our own.

Strict liability: what makes these cases different

In many injury cases you have to prove someone was careless. Product liability often works differently. Under New York’s strict liability doctrine, you generally do not have to prove the manufacturer was negligent. You have to prove the product was defective when it left the company’s hands and that the defect caused your injury while you were using the product as it was intended to be used, or in a reasonably foreseeable way.

That shift matters. It means a manufacturer cannot escape responsibility just by claiming it was careful. If the product was defective and hurt you, the company can be held liable. Responsibility can extend up the chain, from the manufacturer to distributors and retailers.

The three types of defect

New York recognizes three ways a product can be defective, and a single case may involve more than one:

1. Design defect. The product is dangerous because of how it was designed, so every unit that rolls off the line carries the same flaw. The question is usually whether a safer, reasonable alternative design was available.
2. Manufacturing defect. The design is sound, but something went wrong in production, and this particular unit came out different and dangerous. A cracked weld, a contaminated batch, or a missing part are typical examples.
3. Failure to warn. The product lacks adequate warnings or instructions about a non-obvious danger. Even a well-made product can be defective if the company did not tell you how to use it safely or hid a known risk.

The products behind these cases

We handle injuries from a wide range of products, including:

• Defective medical devices such as implants, surgical hardware, and equipment that fails inside the body
• Consumer products like appliances, tools, furniture, and children’s products
• Industrial and construction equipment with missing guards or faulty controls
• Auto parts such as defective tires, airbags, and brakes

When a device failure also involves substandard medical care, a case can overlap with medical malpractice. When a defect causes a death, the family may have a wrongful death claim as well.

Proving a product case

These claims live and die on evidence, so acting early is important. Preserve the product itself and anything that came with it, keep the packaging and instructions, and photograph the scene and your injuries. We work with engineers, safety experts, and, for medical devices, physicians who can explain to a jury exactly how and why the product failed.

New York’s pure comparative negligence rule applies to product liability claims, so even if you are found partly responsible, you can still recover, with your award reduced by your share of fault. The general statute of limitations for a personal injury claim is three years, though the clock can turn on when the injury occurred or was discovered. Do not assume a deadline has passed, and do not assume it has not.

Take on the manufacturer with a firm that is ready

Corporations defend these cases hard because the stakes are high for them. With more than 20 years and eight offices across New York, we have the resources to match them. There is no fee unless we recover for you. Contact us for a free, confidential consultation, 24/7, or review our case results.