Defining Product Liability in Texas

As a consumer, when you purchase or use a product, you expect that it will function properly and as designed.

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Unfortunately, however, this is not always the case. And when someone manufactures or sells a defective product, this can lead to dangerous situations and severe injuries.

If you or a loved one has sustained injuries or property damage in connection with a defective product, you may have a legal claim for relief.

Contact the Texas product liability attorneys at Armstrong Lee & Baker LLP to discuss your case and see how we can help you recover today.

Texas Product Liability and Defective Products Law: An Overview

Broadly speaking, under Texas law, a products liability action is a type of lawsuit you can bring against the manufacturer or seller of a defective product that causes injury, death, or property damage.

However, before proceeding with a Texas product liability lawsuit, there are a few important things you should know.

Types of Product Liability Actions

No two product liability actions will be exactly alike. And in fact, there are a few different types of product defects to be aware of, such as:

Design defect product liability;
Manufacturing defect product liability; and
Failure to warn product liability.

The elements you’ll have to prove to win your case will depend on the type of product defect at issue.

Design Defect vs. Manufacturing Defect vs. Failure to Warn

As noted above, each type of product defect will require proving different elements. For example, in a design defect action, you must be able to show that:

The alleged design defect was an actual cause of the property damage, injury, or death; and
That a safer alternative design existed.

On the other hand, a manufacturing defect does not require showing any defective design.

Rather, manufacturing defects are often the result of errors in production or quality control and may not be present in all units that are ultimately sold to consumers.

You can also hold sellers accountable for a failure to include adequate warnings on products that result in damages to another.

Thus, even if there was no inherent defect with the design or product itself, you may still be able to seek compensation if the product did not include proper warning labels or instructions on how to safely use the product.

Texas Product Liability Statute of Limitations

One thing you need to be aware of is the statute of limitations.

Generally speaking, the statute of limitations is the timeframe in which you must bring a particular type of lawsuit. This timeframe will vary depending on the type of legal claim you’re bringing.

In Texas, the statute of repose for most product liability actions is 15 years from the date of sale of the product by the seller or manufacturer.

Texas also imposes a two-year statute of limitations on product liability actions that result in injury.

Thus, you must file your injury claim within two years from the date of the injury or the date you discovered your injury and the date of filing must also be within 15 years of the original date of sale for the product.

Failure to file your lawsuit within the applicable statute of limitations can result in losing your right to recover any compensation.

While this time frame can seem like a long time, it’s still important to speak with an attorney as soon as possible to best preserve your claim.

Contact a Texas Product Liability Attorney Today

If you’ve suffered injuries caused by a defective product in Texas, we want to help.

At Armstrong Lee & Baker LLP, our attorneys have extensive experience handling product liability cases of all shapes and sizes.

We pride ourselves on helping injury victims in some of the most difficult times of their lives, and we hope we have the opportunity to help you too.

Contact our team of Texas product liability attorneys today to schedule your free consultation. Let’s discuss your case and see what we can do to help you recover.

C.J. Baker

C.J. Baker represents victims with serious injuries and he won’t let any corporation or insurance company stop his clients from getting complete justice. He has won millions of dollars for victims of 18-wheeler crashes, oilfield equipment failures, offshore platform explosions, and defective medical devices. Our lawyers have 25+ years of combined experience.