Product Liability Lawyer

When a product fails and someone suffers a brain injury, the first question is often what went wrong. Was there a problem with the design? Did a component break? Was a safety feature supposed to protect them?

Those answers matter when the injury has changed how someone thinks, remembers, works, communicates, or manages daily life.

The Brain Injury Law Center focuses exclusively on brain injury cases. If a defective vehicle component, piece of equipment, safety device, household product, or other consumer product caused your injury, a product liability lawyer from our firm will investigate the failure and the full impact of the brain injury on you and your family.

If you or someone you love suffered a brain injury after a product failed, call (757) 244-7000 for a free consultation. We’ll listen to what happened, answer your questions, and talk with you about your options.

"The Brain Injury Law Center is the only law firm in the United States dedicated exclusively in representing brain injury victims, survivors and their families. I have dedicated both my personal and professional life to helping brain injury survivors and their families and other victims of catastrophic events."

— Stephen M. Smith

You buy a product expecting it to work safely. You certainly do not expect a tire, ladder, piece of machinery, or safety device to be the reason you end up in a hospital with a brain injury.

Yet a single failure can cause the kind of impact that injures the brain. Defective products are linked to serious falls, motor vehicle crashes, workplace accidents, and other incidents involving force to the head or sudden movement of the brain within the skull.

Products involved in these injuries include:

• Tires and other vehicle components
• Seat belts and airbags
• Ladders and scaffolding
• Industrial machinery
• Construction equipment
• Helmets and protective equipment
• Recreational products
• Household products

A traumatic brain injury can affect memory, concentration, balance, speech, behavior, sleep, and the ability to work or live independently. When a defective product caused the accident, the investigation needs to address both what went wrong with the product and the extent of the resulting brain injury.

A product can fail for very different reasons, and finding the source of the problem is an important part of a product liability case. A product liability attorney may need to examine how the product was designed, how it was made, and what consumers were told about its risks.

Design Defects

The problem may begin with the design. A product can be manufactured exactly as intended and still create an unreasonable risk because of its structure, stability, safety features, or another design choice.

In a brain injury case, the question is whether that design contributed to the crash, fall, or impact that caused the injury.

Manufacturing Defects

Manufacturing defects occur when something goes wrong while the product or one of its components is being made or assembled. Faulty materials, improper welding, incorrect installation, contamination, or assembly errors can turn an otherwise safe design into a dangerous product.

These cases may involve one defective item or a larger production run affected by the same problem.

Inadequate Warnings or Instructions

Warnings and instructions are another part of product safety. If a manufacturer knows about a serious risk associated with foreseeable use of its product, consumers need enough information to understand that risk and use the product safely.

The investigation may examine the warnings that accompanied the product, what the manufacturer knew about the hazard, and when that information became available.

The Brain Injury Law Center handles cases involving products that failed before a serious fall, crash, or other traumatic event.

A defective product lawyer may investigate products such as:

• Motor vehicles and vehicle components: Tires, brakes, steering systems, seats, roofs, seat belts, airbags, and other safety equipment
• Motorcycles and motorcycle components: Tires, tubes, brakes, wheels, and steering components
• Industrial machinery: Lifts, conveyors, tools, mechanical systems, and other workplace equipment
• Ladders and scaffolding: Structural components, locking mechanisms, rungs, feet, and platforms
• Construction equipment: Heavy machinery, lifting equipment, tools, and safety devices
• Recreational products: Bicycles, helmets, sporting equipment, amusement products, and water recreation equipment
• Household products: Furniture, appliances, step stools, and other consumer products associated with serious falls or impacts

The product may need to be examined by engineers or specialists with experience in its design and operation. Testing, maintenance records, manufacturing information, recalls, and reports involving similar products may also help explain the failure.

After a serious injury, it is easy for the product involved to get lost in everything else happening. A damaged vehicle goes to a tow yard. Equipment remains at the workplace. A broken consumer product gets thrown away or returned.

That product may contain the best evidence of why the accident occurred.

Its condition can reveal broken components, unusual wear, manufacturing markings, material failures, or other information that helps reconstruct what happened. Other useful evidence includes:

• Photographs and video
• Model and serial numbers
• Packaging and purchase records
• Manuals and warnings
• Maintenance and repair records
• Accident reports
• Electronic or vehicle data
• Recall information
• Witness statements

Our attorneys take steps to preserve this information and determine what needs to be examined before the product is repaired, discarded, or changed.

After a brain injury, you deserve answers about the product that was supposed to work safely. Call the Brain Injury Law Center at (757) 244-7000 for a free consultation about what happened and what we can do to help.

The company whose name appears on the product is not necessarily the only business involved in making it.

A vehicle, machine, safety device, or other product may contain components supplied by several manufacturers. Separate companies may have designed, assembled, distributed, sold, installed, or repaired it.

A product liability attorney looks at each company's involvement to identify where the defect originated and who bears responsibility. The parties in a claim may include:

• The manufacturer of the finished product
• Component manufacturers
• Designers
• Assemblers
• Distributors
• Retailers
• Maintenance or repair companies

For example, an investigation into a failed vehicle component may require reviewing the component, installation records, maintenance history, and the companies involved at each stage.

Identifying the responsible company becomes even more important when several businesses had control over different parts of the product before it reached the person who was injured.

In a defective product case, there are two parts that need to connect: why the product failed and how that failure caused the brain injury.

That may require reconstructing the accident, examining the forces involved, reviewing the medical findings, and comparing them with what is known about the product failure. For the Brain Injury Law Center, those issues are closely related. 

Our attorneys have spent decades handling cases where the cause of an accident and the mechanics of a brain injury both had to be established.

Stephen M. Smith’s background includes:

• Graduate of Marquette University’s Neuroanatomical Dissection of the Human Brain and Spinal Cord program
• Past president of the National Brain Injury Trial Lawyers Association
• Past president of the Brain Injury Association of Virginia
• Former chairman of the American Association for Justice’s Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group

What Our Clients Say

“If you’ve been hurt, have a brain or neck injury or simply need a trial attorney who is second to none, then you must call Stephen Smith and his team at the Brain Injury Law Center.

— Sara R.

A defective product attorney may need to examine more than the damaged product. Electronic data, maintenance records, surveillance footage, testing information, prior complaints, recalls, and reports of similar failures can help answer questions about what went wrong.

Much of that information will not remain available indefinitely. Video may be deleted, equipment repaired, vehicles moved or salvaged, and damaged products returned or discarded. Records may also become harder to locate as more time passes.

Starting the investigation early gives your attorney a better opportunity to preserve the product and gather the information needed to determine why it failed and who was responsible.

The cost of a brain injury can continue long after the first hospital bill arrives. Treatment, rehabilitation, therapy, missed work, reduced earning ability, and assistance at home can create significant financial pressure for an injured person and their family.

Compensation in a defective product case may cover:

• Emergency and ongoing medical treatment
• Rehabilitation and therapy
• Future medical needs
• Lost wages
• Reduced future earning capacity
• In-home assistance or attendant care
• Home or vehicle modifications
• Pain and suffering
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Other losses associated with permanent disability

A severe TBI may require ongoing assistance with everyday activities or prevent someone from returning to the career they had before the accident. If the injury results in death, eligible family members may also have a wrongful death claim under the law governing the case.

A Martindale-Nolo survey provides broader context on legal representation in personal injury cases. Represented claimants reported average net payouts nearly three times higher than those who handled their claims without an attorney. 

Stephen Smith has spent nearly five decades representing people with brain injuries, including cases where a defective product was responsible for the accident.

One of those cases began with an inner tube installed in the rear tire of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The tube failed, the motorcycle crashed, and a female passenger suffered a brain injury. After the case went to trial, the motorcycle dealer and tire manufacturers agreed to a $14.59 million settlement.

That case required more than proving something went wrong with a motorcycle tire. Stephen and his team also had to establish what the crash had done to their client's brain and what that injury meant for her future.

That is the work the Brain Injury Law Center has focused on for decades.