Trips to the emergency room are every parent’s worst nightmare. Yet, according to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, each year, over 200,000 children are treated at hospital emergency rooms for toy-related injuries.
Some injuries result from improper use, but thousands of new toys hit the shelves every year, and, unfortunately, not all are safe. You may be able to file a product liability lawsuit, if a defective toy injures your child.
Most personal injury cases arise from someone’s negligence. When the negligence relates to a product’s design or manufacture or to a failure to warn appropriately, the intent is irrelevant, as long as the product was defective.
When talking about toys, there are three types of toy-related product liability claims.
1. Manufacturing Defect
Toys in this category may have an adequate design, but the manufacturer errs in production, causing the toy to be unsafe.
Manufacturing defects include mechanical toys built with the wrong type of screws, parts attached incorrectly, or a crack in a critical component during the manufacturing process.
2. Defective Design
A product that fails to perform safely under reasonable expectations is usually defectively designed. This means the design of the toy is harmful, if unrelated to a manufacturing process malfunction.
An example of a defective design is a toy with severe choking hazards. In other words, toys manufactured as designed that turn out to be dangerous may fall under a defective design product liability.
3. Failure to Warn
Manufacturers and toymakers have a duty to warn parents of inherent product dangers. This is usually done through choking hazard warnings and marked age restrictions.
Manufacturers need not warn about every conceivable danger, but they must warn about dangers that occur while the product is being used as intended.
Defective toys can cause a whole host of injuries, including:
- Brain injuries
- Lacerations
- Fractures
- Burns
- Puncture wounds
- Choking
- Poisoning
There are two primary avenues for establishing liability in a toy defect lawsuit: negligence and strict liability. If your child was injured or killed by a defective toy, you might be able to file a lawsuit to recover damages for their injuries. Please contact our office today to discuss the merits of your case.
