At Gary C. Johnson, P.S.C., we are the personal injury law firm that provides the personal service and the results that you deserve. For more than 30 years, we have been serving clients throughout Kentucky, West Virginia and many other states, who have suffered injuries as the result of another's negligence.

Our personal injury attorneys provide tough and aggressive representation aimed at moving your case forward and obtaining full compensation for your injuries. We represent individuals who have been injured as a result of an unsafe product and assist our injured clients in bringing their claims and being fairly compensated for their injuries. Please contact us if you or a family member has been injured by an unsafe product such as:

• Alcoholic beverages
• Children's toys
• Firearms
• Food and agricultural products
• Machinery and tools
• Medical products and devices
• Motor vehicles
• Auto crash worthiness
• Air bags
• SUV rollovers
• Pharmaceutical products
• Recreational products

We will vigorously pursue the maximum allowable compensation for your loss under the law against the suppliers of all types of defective products. Feel free to contact us to discuss your potential claim.

In the course of our daily lives, we use a number of products. When used as directed, we rightly assume that the products we use are safe and reliable. Unfortunately, thousands of people are injured or die each year throughout the United States and in Kentucky because of dangerous and defective products - from automobiles to insulation to medical devices to pharmaceutical drugs and supplements. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports over 22,000 deaths and 29 million injuries related to consumer products each year. Annually, defective consumer products cause more than $500 billion in deaths, injuries and property. We frequently hear of product recalls because of safety and design issues in motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles, children's toys and pajamas - even the food we eat.

You may feel helpless or hopeless if you are one of the innocent people who has been injured, suffered property damage or tragically lost someone because of a hazardous product. However, you do have some control. Victims injured by faulty products have the right to seek compensation, including economic damages (lost wages or medical expenses), non-economic damages (pain and suffering) and punitive damages (to punish reckless behavior). In addition to the monetary considerations of a favorable verdict, if you win your case you may find solace in the fact that those responsible for your situation will be brought to justice. Moreover, you will contribute to the public safety by making manufacturers accountable for safer and more dependable products.

The Path to Justice

When you file a product defect claim, you are suing the makers or sellers of injurious products. Anyone in the supply chain can be held responsible for damages, including the manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer. When their product was brought to market, the manufacturers and distributors became legally obligated to provide a well-designed product that is reasonably safe when used as intended. "Strict liability" claims are the most common types of product defect suits and are designed to enable a person injured by a defective or unpredictably dangerous product to recover compensation without proving that the manufacturer or seller was actually negligent. To win a strict liability case, your attorney must demonstrate the following:

• The product had an "unreasonably dangerous" defect that caused your injury, and that the defect occurred in the product's design, during its manufacture, or during shipping or handling.
  
• The defect caused your injury even though you were using the product in the way the manufacturer said that it was intended to be used.
  
• The product that caused damage had not changed "substantially" from its original sales condition.
  

Other forms of product defect claims are negligence (carelessness, recklessness or malice) or breach of warranty of fitness (damage directly resulting from inadequate product warning). Each of these types of suits has its advantages and disadvantages, and your attorney will recognize and recommend the avenue that offers the greatest chance of recompense. In some cases, your lawyer may opt to use a combination of the three.

While product defect provisions vary greatly from state to state, every jurisdiction requires proof that the product was defective. Your attorney will present one or more of the three types of defects that demonstrate liability:

• Design defects - these are inbuilt defects that make the product flawed prior to its manufacture.
  
• Manufacturing defects - these are problems that happen as the product is being built or produced.
  
• Defect in Warning - the manufacturer has failed to adequately instruct or warn consumers of the potential dangers in the product.
  

Timing is Everything

If you believe that you may have a product defect claim, it is important to seek the counsel of an attorney experienced in recovering damages. Time is of the essence because product defect suits are subject to a Statute of Limitations which specifies that a claim must be filed within a restricted timeframe. A successful verdict will help improve your quality of life as well as compel suppliers and manufacturers to improve the quality of their materials, increase product safety features, and provide thorough cautions regarding a product's potential dangers.

Remember, the law firm you choose does make a difference. The law firm of Gary C. Johnson, P.S.C., works for injured people and their families. We offer a free initial consultation to discuss your case, and we will always give you our honest opinion about your case in light of the facts, case law, and our experience with similar product defect cases. Call us today at (800) 337-4002, or use our online contact form.