Illinois Law
Illinois Personal Injury Defense Law: Products Liability
Personal Injury Defense Law: Products Liability
Kinds of Defects
Defective Warning
A manufacturer has a duty to provide adequate instructions concerning the safe use of its product and must warn buyers of any dangers associated with the product. If such warnings are not present, the manufacturer may be liable for injuries caused by the product. Manufacturers therefore have a duty to perform safety tests to determine what warning labels need to be put on a product. These tests should simulate conditions under which the product would ordinarily be used. For example, the manufacturer of a hand-held electric hair dryer must anticipate that its product might be used above a sink full of water and therefore must warn buyers that dropping the product in water may lead to electrocution. However, a warning label need not be put on an obviously dangerous product, such as a kitchen knife.Included in the duty to warn is a duty to provide post-sale information. Under Illinois law, a manufacturer must warn consumers of hazards associated with a product discovered after a product has been sold. A manufacturer also may be required to recall products in which defects have been discovered and to redesign the products to make them safe. In Illinois, these are continual obligations of manufacturers. In other words, a manufacturer must warn consumers about, and possibly recall, an unsafe product, even if the manufacturer stopped making it many years ago.
Design Defect
Sometimes products are built exactly as designed, but are dangerous because of poor engineering, inadequate testing or poor choice of construction materials. A manufacturer is negligent if it fails to take reasonable care to ensure that a product is designed to perform safely. Not only must companies make sure their products are safe when they are used in the intended way, but also in unintended, though foreseeable, ways. If a manufacturer cannot eliminate a danger from a product, or install a guard to protect a user from the danger, then the manufacturer must warn the user of the danger. Most products liability cases attempt to prove that a design defect caused an injury.Manufacturing Defect
This type of defect occurs when a product is designed well, but through a flaw in the manufacturing process, fails to meet the specifications contained in the design. For example, even if a motorcycle manufacturer ordinarily makes a well-designed gasoline tank for its motorcycles, if it makes a leaking one that causes a fire, then the manufacturer could be liable for injuries caused by that defect.Types of Products Liability Claims
Strict Liability
Strict liability holds a manufacturer liable for injuries sustained by a person using its product, if the product is found to be unreasonably dangerous. Under Illinois law, a plaintiff pursuing a claim for strict liability must prove that a product was defective and unreasonably dangerous, that the defect was present while the product was still in the manufacturer's control, and that the defect caused the injury. The statute of limitations in Illinois for products liability lawsuits based on strict liability is two years from the date of the injury.Negligence
Products liability lawsuits can allege negligence when a manufacturer fails to exercise the care that would be exercised by a reasonable manufacturer in the same or similar situation. Whereas strict liability focuses on the manufactured product, negligence theory focuses on the conduct of the manufacturer. A manufacturer who implements very strict production controls designed to ensure that products are made properly may be able to avoid committing a negligence tort because all due care was taken that reasonably could be expected.Illinois, like some other states, has laws that under certain conditions allow a plaintiff to collect damages from companies that distribute or sell defective products, even if the company did not design, test, or manufacture the product. If distributors or sellers knew that a product was defective but did nothing to keep it from reaching consumers, they could be held liable for damages. In addition, a distributor who damages a product can be held liable for any injuries this causes, and a retailer who incorrectly assembles or installs a product also can be sued. The statute of limitations in Illinois for products liability lawsuits based on negligence is typically two years from the date of the injury.