Product Liability and Children: What Parents Should Know About Dangerous Toys

As a parent, you probably inspect any toys you purchase for your child to confirm they’re safe. Unfortunately, even if it appears a toy is unlikely to cause harm, it could still cause injury due to defects or related factors. Compensation may be available to assist with life-changing injuries if your child was hurt as a result of a dangerous toy.  For example, perhaps your child sustained injuries requiring costly medical treatment. You might seek compensation to help pay their past and future medical bills.

The following overview will explain the basics of the topic, helping you better understand your legal options. Strongly consider reviewing your case with a product liability attorney for more information.

How Dangerous Toys May Harm Children

There are several reasons a toy might hurt a child, even if the toy initially appears safe. Consider the following examples:

• Design flaws: The inherent design of a toy may render it unsafe. Sometimes, it’s obvious that a particular toy isn’t safe for a child, but that’s not always so, especially regarding toys marketed and sold for certain age groups, when the manufacturer deems the toys “safe” for foreseeable uses.
• Manufacturing defects: A toy with a safe design may nevertheless cause harm if the manufacturing process created a defect.
• Failure to warn: Toy companies have a duty to warn parents and consumers in general when their products have the potential to cause harm. If using a product safely requires following directions, companies should also provide thorough instructions and cautions. A toy may injure a child if the company selling it doesn’t provide sufficient warning or instructions for use.

Determining how a product hurt a child is key when seeking compensation. If you’re eligible for financial compensation, you can pursue it by filing a claim with the insurance of the company responsible for your child’s injuries. Or, you can file a lawsuit and seek damages in court if the insurance company won’t offer a fair settlement.

Regardless, you need to identify who is responsible for your child’s injuries. This may require conducting an investigation. An attorney or law firm handling cases like yours can assist in this capacity.

Seeking Compensation When a Toy Hurts Your Child

When filing many types of personal injury lawsuits, you need to prove negligence. That means you need to prove that you or a loved one sustained injuries because someone else was unreasonably careless.

You don’t necessarily have to prove negligence when a toy harms your child. In many states, such as Massachusetts, strict liability or breach of warranty may apply to product liability cases. When the law provides for strict liability, you don’t have to show that a product harmed you or a loved one due to the negligence of the manufacturer, designer, or seller. If someone sells a product, the assumption should be that it’s safe. Victims may thus be owed compensation whenever unreasonably unsafe products hurt, and it can be shown that the injuries resulted from a proven defect.

That said, it’s still very important to preserve evidence when building a case against a toy manufacturer or seller. One way to do so is to save the toy and keep it in its condition after it causes harm. Being able to show how the condition of the toy led to injuries is a critical element of a product liability case involving an unsafe toy or children’s product.

When Toys Harm Your Kids: The Value of Working With a Personal Injury Attorney

It’s not always clear whether you have a valid case when a child has been hurt while using a toy. One way to better determine if you should proceed with a claim or lawsuit is to review your case with a personal injury lawyer. A free case review gives you the opportunity to discuss the topic in greater detail with someone qualified to answer your questions.

A lawyer can assist in several ways if you have a case. For example, it may not be immediately apparent who the liable party is in these circumstances. An attorney can investigate to determine who should be the target of your claim or lawsuit.

A lawyer can also account for the various losses for which you and your child may deserve compensation. Be aware that the insurance company’s goal is typically to settle a case for as little money as possible. You need someone on your side who can fight for an appropriate settlement.

That’s exactly what you’ll find at Swartz & Swartz, P.C. If you believe you may have a product liability case after an unsafe toy injured your child, we’re prepared to review your case and offer aggressive representation if you decide to work with us. Learn more by contacting us online or calling us at (617) 742-1900 today.

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If you or someone you know, needs help from a lawyer, contact the law offices of Swartz & Swartz, use our live chat, or send us a message using the form below and we’ll get in touch to assess your case and how we can help.