Birmingham Defective Toys and Products Attorneys
Keeping a child safe and happy is a parent’s highest duty, and buying your child a toy or trinket should always be a joyous experience. But all too often, manufacturers of toys and nursery products make and sell products that cause injuries to children, and the toys and objects designed to bring them joy and comfort end up causing harm and pain.
If your child was injured by one of these toys or products, you should consider talking to the Birmingham child injury attorneys of Farris, Riley & Pitt, LLP about filing a personal injury claim or lawsuit. We specialize in helping residents of North Central Alabama get compensation for injuries or losses sustained due to another party’s negligence. Call us today at (205) 324-1212 for a free consultation, and let us review your case to determine whether you’re eligible. Don’t let the maker of a defective nursery product get away with harming your child. Call the attorneys at Farris, Riley & Pitt, LLP today.
What Is a Defective Toy or Product Claim?
According to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, there were over 60,000 emergency-room level injuries to children under age five associated with defective nursery products or toys in 2019 and 357 deaths associated with nursery products or toys between 2015 and 2017. Injuries due to defective products may not be commonplace, but they harm a large number of children every year.
If we can prove that the manufacturer of the defective product had knowledge of its faults or should have known about them, we may be able to obtain compensation for your family through a personal injury claim or lawsuit.
The claims-lawsuit process would look something like this:
- Investigation. We would investigate the accident that caused your child’s injury. This would include speaking to the manufacturer, interviewing witnesses, and gathering documentation showing the extent of the injury and that the manufacturer either knew or should have known that their product was dangerous.
- Submit a demand letter. We would then submit a demand letter to the responsible company demanding compensation for the injury.
- Company response. The company would likely perform its own investigation to determine whether your claim has merit. If they believe it does, settlement negotiations would begin. A settlement is a cash amount intended to compensate you for your losses in exchange for which you would drop any further claim you have against the responsible party. Your attorney and the company would try to come to an agreement on a fair settlement amount that is commensurate with your child’s injuries. If negotiations are successful, payment is issued, and the process ends.
- File a lawsuit. If your claim is denied or the settlement negotiations fail, your attorney may recommend filing a lawsuit against the responsible party in Alabama court. We would then take your case to trial before a judge or jury, and they would determine who was at fault.
In order to obtain compensation through a claim or lawsuit, we must establish negligence. The law states that everyone is required to act in a way that doesn’t harm anyone else. If we can show, with evidence, that the responsible party perceived a “substantial and unjustifiable risk, but failed to act to remedy that risk or warn of that risk, that their actions caused an accident, and the accident caused your child’s injury, we should be able to prove the responsible party was at fault.
Why Do I Need an Attorney?
Attempting to obtain compensation through a personal injury claim or lawsuit without the help of an attorney, although legal, would not be in your best interest. The claims process can be complex, especially in defective product cases where you’re dealing with a large company and its team of lawyers.
Defective products claims are not like insurance claims. They require a knowledgeable attorney to help you understand the ins and outs of the process and to help you avoid novice mistakes that may get your claim delayed or denied.
A good lawyer will do more than provide legal counsel. A defective toy or product accident can be a traumatic experience, especially if your child is severely injured. We will provide you and your family the time you need to process the trauma while we work hard to bring the responsible party to justice. We will handle all the nit-picky details of evidence and documentation and tend to all the legal work and communications so that you can spend your time healing your family’s wounds.
Getting compensation for an injury takes experience and understanding of how damages work. To accurately determine the amount of compensation you may be eligible for, you have to tally up the verifiable losses you suffered as a result of the accident. Some of these losses are self-explanatory, such as medical bills, but others, like pain and suffering, require experience with prior claims and knowledge of relevant case law. An experienced attorney can make sure you’re demanding the full amount you’re owed.
Why Choose Farris, Riley & Pitt, LLP to Represent Me?
For over two decades, the dedicated attorneys at Farris, Riley & Pitt, LLP have been helping residents of Birmingham and elsewhere get the fair and just compensation they need to move on with their lives after a debilitating accident or injury. Our founders, Kirby Farris and Ken Riley, were born and raised in Alabama, and both graduated from the University of Alabama before obtaining their law degrees. We believe in providing compassionate and personal service to all of our clients, regardless of their legal needs, because we know the emotional strain families endure after a severe accident.
That compassion doesn’t stop with our clients. We regularly support local charities and organizations in our community, such as St. Jude Children’s Hospital, United Way, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Alabama, and Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama.
We want to support our community because it has given us great success. We’ve been able to obtain over $200 million in settlements and awards for our clients. We can’t win every claim or case we take on, but we will work tirelessly to get you the help you need.
Types of Defects in Toys and Products
There are three main types of defects in defective toy and product claims:
- Design defect. This is a fault in the original design of the product that may cause harm to children. An example might be a plush toy that causes a choking hazard or a plastic pool slide that is too short, causing a falling hazard.
- Manufacturing defect. This type of defect refers to a product that was designed safely, but some fault during the manufacturing process leads to a safety hazard. An example might be a plastic toy with several small pieces that comes apart easily due to poor manufacture and that presents a choking hazard or a pool float with bad seals due to low-quality adhesive that comes apart when wet and presents a drowning hazard.
- Failure to warn defect. Manufacturers have a duty to protect their customers by warning them of any possible safety hazards that may occur during normal use of their products. If they neglect this duty, severe injuries can result. An example might be a toy with several small parts that present a choking hazard without any warning of the hazard on the packaging.
Common Injuries from Defective Toys and Products
There is a wide array of possible injuries from defective product cases, especially in children, simply because children don’t understand the dangers these products present. Some of the possible injuries include the following:
- Choking
- Traumatic brain injury
- Drowning
- Eye injuries
- Ear injuries
- Electric shock injuries
- Burns
- Soft tissue injuries
- Head and neck injuries
- Neurological injuries
- Behavioral issues
- Learning disabilities
- Amputation
- Lacerations
- Internal injuries
- Organ damage
- Puncture wounds
- Death
Compensation for Injuries Due to Defective Toys and Products
With personal injury claims, the amount of compensation you may be able to obtain is nearly impossible to determine without a thorough review of your case because each case is unique. Even if we’re familiar with the circumstances and comparable cases, we never know how the responsible company will respond to our demand or how the settlement negotiations will play out.
The amount we demand in compensation for your case is determined by assessing the verifiable losses, or damages, you suffer as a result of the accident.
Economic damages are any losses with a definable monetary value. Some examples include:
- Medical bills
- Lost wages
- Property damage
Non-economic damages are losses without a monetary value. These losses relate to the experience of going through the injury, and not the financial toll of treating it. There are many types, such as:
- Loss of consortium
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
Talk to your attorney about your losses to determine which damages apply to your claim.
Call Today for a Free Consultation
If your child has been injured by a defective toy or product, don’t wait any longer to contact the attorneys at Farris, Riley & Pitt, LLP. The first consultation is absolutely free, and we will provide you with all options available to you regardless of whether you choose us to represent you. We only take payment for our services if we get compensation for you, so you have nothing to lose. Call (205) 324-1212 today and get the compensation you deserve after a defective product accident.
