Product Liability Lawyer in Texas

Were you seriously hurt by a product you thought was safe? You could very well have a product liability case. Texas product liability law gives injured people a way to hold people responsible for dangerous or defective products.

But here’s the thing: these cases can be tough to prove. Manufacturers often have experienced lawyers, experts, and insurance companies ready to fight back. They may blame you, question how you used the product, or argue that something else caused your injuries.

Grossman Law Offices has handled serious injury cases for more than 35 years. We know how manufacturers and insurance companies fight these claims, and we know what evidence can make or break a case. If you were injured because of a dangerous or defective product, contact us to discuss what happened and what options may be available to you.

Below, we’ll explain how Texas product liability cases work. We’ll touch on what manufacturers are expected to do, what an injured person may need to prove, and what can hurt an otherwise strong claim.

What Is Product Liability?

Product liability is an area of law that deals with injuries, deaths, and property damage caused by dangerous or defective products.

These cases may involve almost anything sold to consumers or businesses. That includes cars, tools, appliances, medical devices, drugs, food, chemicals, industrial equipment, toys, household goods, and more.

A product may be defective because of an unsafe design, a manufacturing error, or inadequate warnings. Liability can also arise when companies use careless practices during testing, production, or sales, or fail to honor a warranty.

That doesn’t mean manufacturers have to pay every time someone gets hurt while using something they made. Plenty of products carry obvious risks. Knives can cut you. A lighter makes a flame. A vehicle can crash.

For there to be legal significance, the product must have been more dangerous than reasonably expected, or the company must have failed to address a known risk.

Learn about the three types of product defects.

How Are Product Liability Cases Different from Other Personal Injury Cases?

Most personal injury cases focus on someone’s careless conduct. Product liability cases focus more on what was wrong with the product.

Let’s look at a quick comparison. In a typical personal injury case, if a driver runs a red light and hits you, the focus is on what the driver did wrong. Were they speeding, distracted, or ignoring the light?

In a product liability case, the focus is on the product itself. Take Lawn Darts. These were heavy darts with sharp metal points that people threw through the air as a game. A manufacturer could make every dart exactly as designed, use the right materials, and still put a dangerous product on the market.

That difference affects nearly every part of the case, including what you have to prove and which legal claims you can bring.

Depending on what went wrong, a product liability claim may involve strict liability, negligence, breach of warranty, or several theories at once.

What Is Strict Liability in a Product Liability Case?

Strict liability allows an injured person to hold a manufacturer responsible for a defective product without proving that the manufacturer was negligent.

To bring this type of claim, the product must have had a defect when it left the manufacturer’s control. That defect must have made the product unreasonably dangerous and caused the injury.

The defect may involve the product’s design, how it was manufactured, or the warnings and instructions that came with it.

This type of liability helps protect consumers because they usually have no control over how a product is designed, tested, or made. They have to trust that manufacturers are putting reasonably safe products on the market.

Strict liability also encourages manufacturers to take safety seriously. When companies can be held responsible for dangerous products, they have an incentive to catch problems early, improve their processes, and keep unsafe products out of consumers’ hands.

What Does Texas Law Expect Product Manufacturers to Do?

Manufacturers don’t have to create perfect products, but they do have to take safety seriously.

That starts with the design. Companies need to weigh how useful a product is against the risks it creates. Some risks may be justified. Others aren’t, especially when there’s a safer option that is practical and affordable.

Manufacturers also need to use sound science and engineering. If a safer design is available and reasonable, ignoring it can create serious legal problems.

The job doesn’t stop once the design is finished. Companies also have to build the product correctly. Poor materials, weak inspections, bad quality control, or careless production can turn a safe design into a dangerous product.

Some risks can’t be reduced or eliminated without changing how the product works. In those cases, manufacturers may need to give clear warnings and instructions. People should be told what the danger is and how to avoid it.

Companies also have to be careful about the promises they make. If they advertise certain safety features or say a product is fit for a specific use, they may be held to those claims.

What Is a Design Defect?

A design defect is a problem with the product’s basic design that makes it unreasonably dangerous.

Imagine a cheap cigarette lighter with a fuel tank that can split during normal use. The factory may build every lighter exactly as planned, but the design still creates a serious burn risk.

In that situation, the issue isn’t how the product was made. It’s that the product was dangerous from the start.

What Is a Manufacturing Defect?

A manufacturing defect happens when something goes wrong while the product is being made.

Let’s go back to the lighter example. Suppose the design calls for a strong fuel tank, but a production mistake leaves some tanks too thin. Those lighters can break during use and leave people with serious burns.

Here, the design itself may be fine. But the finished product wasn’t made the way it was supposed to be.

These claims often rely on the actual item that caused the injury. Experts may compare it with design plans, other units, inspection records, and quality control documents.

Because of this, it’s really important to preserve the defective product.

What Is a Failure-to-Warn Claim?

A failure-to-warn claim is a product liability claim based on a company’s failure to give clear warnings or instructions about a known danger.

Some risks can’t be avoided entirely. In those cases, the manufacturer may need to explain the danger and tell people how to avoid it.

Suppose a lighter works safely during normal use but its fuel tank can crack when it’s exposed to extremely cold temperatures. If the company knows about that risk, they should warn users not to use the lighter in those conditions.

Without a clear warning, users have no way to protect themselves from a danger they couldn’t see coming.

How Do You Prove That a Product Was Unreasonably Dangerous?

How you prove that depends on the type of defect. In a design defect case, one of the biggest issues is whether the manufacturer could have used a safer alternative. That alternative has to be realistic. It generally needs to have been available when the product was made, work for the same purpose, and not make the product useless or wildly expensive.

A company usually won’t be faulted for failing to use technology that didn’t exist yet. But once a safer option becomes practical, manufacturers have less room to ignore it.

Vehicle airbags are a good example. Years ago, technology was far less advanced. As airbags became practical, affordable, and widely used, it became much harder for manufacturers to defend designs that left them out.

Other claims may rely on different proof. Manufacturing records can show whether something went wrong during production. Internal emails, testing documents, complaints, and prior incidents may show what the company knew about a danger. Labels, manuals, and packaging can also help show whether consumers were properly warned.

These cases often come down to technical evidence. Engineers, scientists, and other experts may need to explain what made the product dangerous, how a safer design could have worked, and whether the manufacturer could reasonably have used it.

What happened after the sale can matter too. If someone significantly changes a product after buying it, that can create a problem. The manufacturer may argue that the change caused the danger and that the product was no longer in its original condition.

Why Are Expert Witnesses So Important in Product Liability Cases?

Product cases often involve engineering, chemistry, medicine, manufacturing, or other technical subjects that most people never deal with in everyday life.

A jury may need an expert to explain why a part failed. They may also need help understanding whether the material was strong enough, whether a safer design was possible, or whether the warning was clear enough.

Qualified experts can inspect and test the product, review company records, and compare the design with industry practices. They’ll then explain their findings in terms that a jury can understand.

Manufacturers often have the money to hire their own experts and fight every part of the case. Your experts need to be able to explain their findings clearly and defend them when the other side pushes back.

What Is a Breach of Warranty Claim?

A breach of warranty claim can arise when a product fails to live up to a company’s promises or to basic expectations about how it should work.

Some warranties are express. That means the company directly says what the product will do or how safe it is. If the product fails to meet that promise and someone gets hurt, the company may be held responsible.

Other warranties are implied. These come from what buyers can reasonably expect. A product sold for a certain purpose should be able to handle that purpose safely.

If it can’t, and someone is injured as a result, that may support a breach of warranty claim.

Can a Company Disclaim a Warranty?

Yes. Sometimes a company can limit or disclaim a warranty. But adding the words “as is” doesn’t automatically end every dispute.

The language has to hold up under Texas law.

Courts may look at what the disclaimer says, how clearly it was presented, and what kind of warranty is involved.

Can a Manufacturer Be Liable for Negligence?

Yes. Product liability law doesn’t replace negligence. In some cases, negligence may still be one of the strongest claims you can bring.

Manufacturers are expected to use reasonable care when they design, test, make, inspect, and warn people about their products. If a company knows the same dangerous defect keeps showing up and does nothing to fix it, that can become a serious issue.

The same goes for ignored complaints, poor quality control, weak testing, or safety concerns that the company never properly investigated.

For negligence, you need to show the manufacturer actually did something wrong. That could mean they ignored a known safety issue, skipped reasonable testing, or failed to fix a recurring defect. You also have to connect that failure to the injury.

What Is the Difference Between Producing Cause and Proximate Cause?

Both terms deal with what caused your injury, but they ask slightly different questions.

Producing cause asks whether the product defect caused the injury. Proximate cause asks whether the defendant’s conduct caused the injury and whether the harm was reasonably foreseeable.

Note: Proximate cause isn’t just about manufacturers. It can apply to any defendant whose actions are part of a negligence claim.

Producing cause is more direct. Did the defect cause the injury? Proximate cause adds another layer. Did the defendant’s conduct cause the injury, and was that kind of harm something they should have seen coming?

Can a Seller Be Responsible for a Defective Product?

Sometimes. A seller can be held responsible when they play a more direct role in what went wrong. For example, they may have helped design or modify the product, installed it incorrectly, made certain claims about it, or had substantial control over its warnings or instructions.

These cases can get confusing because the business that sold the product may be different from the company that made it.

That difference can become important if the manufacturer is out of business, hard to find, or otherwise unavailable. In that situation, you may look to the seller or another company in the distribution chain.

But remember that the seller won’t automatically be responsible just because you can’t sue the manufacturer.

What Compensation May Be Available in a Product Liability Case?

If a defective product hurt you, the damage can go far beyond the first medical bill. You may be dealing with surgery, therapy, missed work, chronic pain, or a permanent injury. Those losses can affect your finances and your daily life for years.

Depending on the facts, you may be able to recover money for medical care, future treatment, lost wages, reduced earning ability, physical pain, mental anguish, disfigurement, impairment, and property damage.

Some losses are easier to put a number on than others. Medical bills and missed paychecks are usually straightforward. Pain, permanent limitations, and the loss of normal activities can be harder to measure, but they can still make up a major part of the claim.

If a defective product killed someone you love, your family may also have a wrongful death claim. That can include lost income, lost household services, lost companionship, and mental anguish.

Some cases may also involve survival damages for what the person suffered before death. Punitive damages may be available when the defendant’s conduct was especially serious.

No lawyer can honestly assign a case a value from a short phone call or a few basic facts. The amount depends on the injury, the evidence, the legal claims available, and what can actually be proven.

How Long Do You Have to File a Product Liability Claim in Texas?

The deadline depends on the type of claim.

Negligence and many personal injury claims generally have a two-year deadline. Warranty claims can follow different rules. Those deadlines may start from the sale or delivery of the product instead of the date you were hurt.

Texas also has a 15-year statute of repose. In many cases, you can’t bring a product liability claim more than 15 years after the defendant sold the product. There are some exceptions.

But don’t think you automatically have years to act. Waiting can hurt your case long before any legal deadline runs out.

As time goes on, things change. Company employees leave. Records disappear. Electronic files get deleted. Memories fade. And the product itself may be repaired, thrown away, or changed. A strong case can get much harder to prove once the evidence starts disappearing.

What Can Hurt a Product Liability Claim?

Waiting too long is just one mistake that can hurt your product liability claim. Others can cause just as much damage, and some are nearly impossible to fix later.

Changing the product is another major problem. If a product hurts you, don’t repair it, take it apart, clean it, or modify it unless you absolutely have to. The defense will look closely at anything that changed after the incident. And if they can, they’ll argue that you created the defect yourself.

Throwing the product away can be even worse. Your lawyer and experts may need to examine the actual item to figure out what failed, compare it with the design, or test its components. Without access to the product, it can be much harder to prove the defect.

Medical treatment gaps can affect your claim, too. The general thought is that if you were really hurt, you’d take reasonable steps to get better. That means going to doctor appointments, following treatment plans, and getting recommended care. If you don’t, the defense may argue that you weren’t as badly hurt as you claim or that some of your later problems could have been avoided.

You should also be careful about speaking with the manufacturer or an insurance company before getting legal advice. A recorded statement can quickly turn into an argument that you misused or changed the product, ignored instructions, or caused your own injuries.

How Can a Texas Product Liability Lawyer Help?

A product liability lawyer can dig into what went wrong and figure out who should answer for it. It could be the manufacturer, seller, distributor, or another company tied to the product.

Your lawyer can gather records, question witnesses, review safety documents, and bring in experts when the case gets technical. Those experts can help show why the product failed and whether the manufacturer could have made it safer.

They can also handle the legal work that comes with your claim. That includes filing paperwork, tracking deadlines, dealing with insurance companies, and making sure the case keeps moving. If a lawsuit becomes necessary, your lawyer can handle that process too.

With a lawyer on your side, you can push back when the other side starts pointing fingers. If the other side says you misused the product, caused your own injury, or misunderstood what happened, your lawyer can challenge those claims with evidence.

Contact Grossman Law Offices About Your Product Liability Claim

If a defective product seriously hurt you, you’re already dealing with enough. Medical bills pile up. Work gets missed. And now you’re trying to figure out what went wrong and who should be responsible.

You shouldn’t have to deal with all of that on your own.

The product liability lawyers at Grossman Law Offices bring deep experience to the table. Over the past four decades, we’ve recovered tens of millions of dollars for our clients. We know what it takes to go up against companies that refuse to accept responsibility.

With us, your consultation is free. You won’t pay attorney’s fees unless we win your case. You’ll also get direct access to your lawyer, including their phone number, so you always know who to call when questions come up.

We’ll keep you informed, explain what’s happening in plain English, and make sure you understand your options as the case moves forward.

So, don’t wait. Schedule a free consultation with Grossman Law Offices. Tell us what happened, and we’ll explain what your next steps may look like.