When you purchase a product and use it as intended, you don’t expect to be harmed by it due to a defect or unsafe feature. However, some manufacturers allow unreasonably dangerous products to enter the public market. When this occurs, severe or fatal injuries can result, and you may incur crippling financial and personal losses. Fortunately, you have the right to pursue manufacturers and other liable parties for compensation.
At Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers, we have over 250 years of combined experience handling product liability and other personal injury cases. Our personal injury lawyers can guide you through the complicated claims process and secure the compensation you deserve.
How a Meaux Product Liability Lawyer Can Help
An injury caused by a defective product can be devastating, and living in the aftermath can be stressful. Indeed, you may be struggling to organize treatment, swamped with medical bills, and facing a daunting legal battle for compensation, all while in pain from your injury. But you are not alone—a Laborde Earles product liability lawyer is ready to stand with you.
The process of compensation recovery will require you to perform several critical tasks. And a lawyer can complete many of these tasks on your behalf. Overall, a lawyer can benefit your case in the following ways and more:
Being Your Legal Advisor and Guide
While pursuing compensation, you must understand your rights, the law, and the procedures associated with the process. For this reason, having access to a lawyer’s legal knowledge and expertise can be essential to your case’s success. Additionally, a lawyer will keep you abreast of case proceedings and ensure all your paperwork is filled out accurately and submitted on time.
Being a Medical Advocate
Besides guiding you in legal matters, a lawyer will actively promote your well-being. A lawyer must be familiar with defective product injuries, including yours, and the medical treatments they require. As such, a lawyer can ensure you are receiving the best medical treatment available.
Collecting Crucial Evidence
Any successful product liability claim must be thoroughly supported by evidence. To build your claim, a lawyer will gather evidence that proves that you sustained damages and that another party is liable for them. Supporting evidence may include the following:
- Medical bills and receipts to prove your damages
- Medical records that detail the severity of your injuries
- Pay stubs or income statements to prove lost income from missing work
- Photos of property damage
- Police reports of the incident
- Pictures or videos taken where you were injured
- CCTV video that captured the moment you were injured
- Photos documenting your injuries and their progression over time
- Safety reports from the product’s manufacturer
- Testimony from eyewitnesses
- Expert witness testimony from police, first responders, doctors, psychologists, accident reconstruction specialists, economists, life-care planners, etc.
Total Your Damages and Construct a Claim
After gathering the necessary evidence, you and your lawyer must put together a well-supported compensation claim. Your lawyer can inform you of which damages are available and how the evidence supports your claim.
For example, a receipt for medication has a specific price for which you can be compensated. And for an item such as ongoing medical care, a healthcare professional can appraise the future cost of treating your injuries. We can then use this expert witness testimony as evidence for damages in your claim.
Our personal injury lawyers understand that not all damages come with a price tag. You may also grapple with losses such as chronic pain, psychological trauma, or a permanent disability. A lawyer can employ legal formulas combined with expert testimony to estimate the total cost of these non-economic losses.
Negotiating a Settlement With the Insurer
We strongly recommend that you have an attorney negotiate on your behalf. Once we’ve constructed your claim, we will submit it to the liable party’s insurer and attempt to negotiate an out-of-court settlement. Unfortunately, insurance companies are profit-motivated and may use tactics to minimize the amount they owe you or even discourage you from pursuing compensation altogether.
A Meaux product liability lawyer can avoid these tactics and ensure your claim is given the consideration it deserves.
Filing a Lawsuit and Represent You in Court
Sometimes settlement negotiations ultimately fail. If this happens, a Laborde Earles lawyer is ready to file a lawsuit and fight for your right to fair compensation in court. In some cases, we may suggest beginning with legal action.
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Recoverable Compensation in a Meaux Product Liability Case
Again, an injury caused by a defective or dangerous product can be costly. At Laborde Earles, we believe you shouldn’t have to pay for losses that weren’t your fault. Depending on your injury, you may be able to recover compensation for the following and more:
Economic Damages
- Medical bills for ambulance rides, emergency room care, hospital stays, labs and tests, physical therapy, at-home nursing, doctor visits, medical equipment, medications, psychiatric care, etc.
- Property damaged by the defective product (including the product itself)
- Lost income due to missing work while injured and recovering
- Diminished earning potential in the future caused by a disability
- Remodeling costs to make your home handicap accessible, e.g., a wheelchair ramp
Non-Economic Damages
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional anguish
- Psychological trauma
- Long-term or permanent disability
- Permanent scarring or disfigurement
- Lost enjoyment of life
- Diminished quality of life
Wrongful Death Damages
If a defective product killed your loved one, you might be entitled to pursue wrongful death damages, including the following:
- Funeral, burial, or cremation costs
- The decedent’s unpaid medical expenses
- Lost household income
- Lost healthcare or other work-related benefits
- Loss of the decedent’s care, love, and guidance
If you lost a loved one due to a dangerous product, our law firm is ready to handle every aspect of your case so you can focus on your family and healing your emotional wounds.
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Louisiana Statute of Limitations May Apply to Your Meaux Product Liability Case
Time is of the essence in product liability cases. CC Art. 3492 and CC Art. 2315 set a one-year statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits and wrongful death lawsuits. Failure to meet this deadline can result in forfeiture of your right to pursue compensation. Our Meaux product liability attorneys will ensure all paperwork is complete and filed on time.
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Overview of a Product Liability Claim
The Louisiana Products Liability Act sets the requirements for product liability claims. As a result, your product liability case will typically fall under the following categories:
Negligence
You must demonstrate that the at-fault party(ies) breached a duty they owed to you when they released an unsafe or defective product to prove negligence. To be eligible for compensation, you must also demonstrate that the product’s defect directly caused your injuries and that you incurred losses as a result.
Examples of breach of duty include product design or manufacturing errors and failure to warn consumers of risks associated with the product’s use.
Strict Liability
When strict liability applies to a case, establishing negligence is unnecessary. Manufacturers are automatically responsible for harm caused by a defective product. Therefore, you will only need to prove the product was unreasonably dangerous and that the injury resulted from the product’s use, as long as it was used as intended.
Breach of Warranty
Many products guarantee that they will be safe and in working order for a specific time. In a breach of warranty, manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers could be liable for your injuries if their product doesn’t conform to the warranty.
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Call Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers Today
If you suffered injuries due to an unsafe or defective product, Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers is here to help. We can coordinate all of your case’s legal work while you focus on healing and recovery.
You can learn more about our services and your legal options in a free, no-obligation case review with a law professional from our team. So contact us today, and we can start securing the compensation you need to cover your injuries and losses.
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