Product Liability Lawyer in Bend, Oregon
Hurt by something that should have been safe?
Hold the maker to account.
Around seven percent of all personal injury cases involve defective products. Under product liability laws, a company’s priority is to protect its customers from dangerous and harmful products. In defective product law, the courts assume that companies have the most knowledge of their products. Therefore, it’s justifiable for them to be held liable if a product is defective and injures a customer.
Product liability laws are quite involved. If you or someone you love has been injured because of a defective or dangerous product, you’ll want the guidance of a Bend defective product attorney. At Precision Litigation Northwest, we’ve filed many defective product lawsuits for our clients. Our legal team will seek substantial settlements for your pain, suffering, and damages caused by a defective product.
Contact Precision Litigation Northwest for your free injury consultation. You don’t pay us unless we win your case. Serving all of Deschutes County.
Why Are Product Liability Cases Complex?
You would think that only the manufacturer of a defective product can be held liable for a consumer’s injury. But that’s not always true. Sometimes, other companies or individuals involved in the manufacturing and distribution of a product are responsible for part of the damages in these complicated cases. The manufacturer, the retailer, and other entities within the supply chain of a product’s distribution can be liable in a defective product case.
When you contact us for a free injury consultation, we will look at all parties involved in the product’s supply chain. The manufacturer or company that owns the product is the first entity we will assess for liability. Since they are responsible for creating the product, they will be held liable for at least some of the damages involved in the case.
A manufacturer could be a large corporation or a small or mid-sized business. The size of the manufacturer does not matter, as any negligent company is responsible for defective products. Sometimes, a serious design flaw exists that we will uncover in the product. Bringing forth a suit will protect other innocent consumers from injury.
How are retailers responsible? A retailer may indeed have been unaware of defects in a product they stock and sell. However, the court views retailers as having legal responsibility for the products they market. A retailer may say they are ignorant as a defense against a lawsuit, but the court may still hold them accountable.
Sometimes, a wholesaler or distributor may be liable for damages, too. As a victim of a defective product, you have the legal right to bring forth a lawsuit against more than one party in the distribution chain. Many clients come to us reeling from the fallout of a defective product injury. They may face expensive medical bills, lost wages, and decreased earning potential. Through a well-prepared personal injury claim, they can recover the compensation needed to cover these losses as well as non-economic damages such as pain and suffering and emotional distress.
Our dedicated legal team will answer any of your defective product-related questions and help put your mind at ease. Our Bend defective product lawyers will go over your case with a fine-toothed comb to determine who in the supply chain is responsible for your injury and fight to get you the compensation you deserve.
Product Liability lawyers near you
Serving clients in central and wider Oregon. Local pages for the communities we serve most:
Oregon product liability law in plain terms
Oregon’s product liability statute (ORS 30.900 to 30.920) lets you recover from the maker or seller of a product that was unreasonably dangerous when it left their hands, without proving that anyone was careless. Three kinds of defect count: a design that is dangerous in every unit, a manufacturing error in your unit, and a missing or inadequate warning or instruction. A recall is helpful evidence but not required. Many of the products that hurt people are never recalled.
Timing has two limits. The claim must be filed within two years of discovering the injury and its link to the product, and, separately, within ten years of when the product was first bought (ORS 30.905). Older equipment, a used vehicle or a hand-me-down appliance can run into that outer limit, so do not wait to ask.
Keep the product: the first week after a defective product injury
The product is the case. Do not return it, repair it, throw it away or hand it to an insurer or the store. Keep the packaging, the manual, the receipt and any order confirmation, and photograph the product, the scene and your injuries. Write down where and when you bought it. Get medical care and tell the provider exactly what happened. Check the CPSC recall list and, for vehicles, tires and car seats, NHTSA recalls, and save what you find. Then call 541-948-8830 before anyone else asks for the product.
We send preservation letters to the manufacturer, the distributor and the retailer, arrange for the product to be stored and examined by an engineer under agreed conditions, and gather the design history and complaint records the maker holds on that model.
Product injuries we see in Central Oregon
Bend’s outdoor economy shapes the products that hurt people here: e-bikes and bicycle components, ski and snowboard bindings, climbing gear, ATVs and UTVs ridden around Prineville and La Pine, boats and trailers on the Deschutes and Lake Billy Chinook, wood stoves and space heaters, power tools, pressure cookers, lithium batteries and children’s products. A claim covers the medical care, the future care, the lost income and the pain the product caused, whether it was bought at a Bend retailer or shipped to your door. The maker will usually be out of state and its insurer will have handled the same defect before, so the claim is prepared for trial in Deschutes County Circuit Court from the start.
How comparative fault is argued in a product case
The maker’s first defense is almost always you: the product was misused, modified, worn out or used against a warning buried in the manual. Oregon’s comparative fault rule (ORS 31.600) reduces a recovery by your share of fault and bars it above 50 percent, so the argument has to be met, not ignored. A use the maker should have expected is still the maker’s responsibility, and a warning that nobody could find or read is not a warning. We show how the product was actually used, what an ordinary buyer would have done and what the maker knew about other people doing the same thing.
What the first meeting covers and what the demand contains
Bring the product if you still have it, the photographs, the receipt or order confirmation and your medical bills. We explain the contingency fee, which means no fee unless the claim recovers money, and where the ten-year outer limit and the two-year deadline fall for your product. The demand goes out once an engineer has examined the product and the treatment picture is known. It contains the engineer’s findings, the recall and complaint history for that model, the medical records, the doctors’ written opinions on future care and the wage loss documentation. Early offers from a product maker’s insurer are low because the maker has priced the same defect before. Any health insurer or PIP lien is negotiated before the recovery is paid out.
Frequently asked questions
Why Are Product Liability Cases Complex?
You would think that only the manufacturer of a defective product can be held liable for a consumer’s injury. But that’s not always true. Sometimes, other companies or individuals involved in the manufacturing and distribution of a product are responsible for part of the damages in these complicated cases. The manufacturer, the retailer, and other entities within the supply chain of a product’s distribution can be liable in a defective product case.When you contact us for a free injury consultation, we will look at all parties involved in the product’s supply chain. The manufacturer or company that owns the product is the first entity we will assess for liability. Since they are responsible for creating the product, they will be held liable for at least some of the damages involved in the case.A manufacturer could be a large corporation or a small or mid-sized business. The size of the manufacturer does not matter, as any negligent company is responsible for defective products. Sometimes, a serious design flaw exists that we will uncover in the product. Bringing forth a suit will protect other innocent consumers from injury.How are retailers responsible? A retailer may indeed have been unaware of defects in a product they stock and sell. However, the court views retailers as having legal responsibility for the products they market. A retailer may say they are ignorant as a defense against a lawsuit, but the court may still hold them accountable.Sometimes, a wholesaler or distributor may be liable for damages, too. As a victim of a defective product, you have the legal right to bring forth a lawsuit against more than one party in the distribution chain. Many clients come to us reeling from the fallout of a defective product injury. They may face expensive medical bills, lost wages, and decreased earning potential. Through a well-prepared personal injury claim, they can recover the compensation needed to cover these losses as well as non-economic damages such as pain and suffering and emotional distress. Our dedicated legal team will answer any of your defective product-related questions and help put your mind at ease. Our Bend defective product lawyers will go over your case with a fine-toothed comb to determine who in the supply chain is responsible for your injury and fight to get you the compensation you deserve.