Many people are injured by defective goods every year. Injuries may range from minor accidents such as damaged teeth due to foreign bodies in food or serious accidents eg electrocution from faulty electrical products, or even road accidents.

The cause may not necesarily be a "product" as such - accidents can be caused by defective wormanship in building works etc., or by defective packaging or misleading or incomplete instuctions supplied with products. Furthermore the cause may not result from errors or omissions in manufacturing - often it is a fault in the design which causes the accident.

Persons injured by defective goods may be able to bring a claim in negligence against the maufacturer in the same way as an injuryustained in some other form of accident. It may of course be difficult for an individual to prove negligence against a large organisation but this situation was eased to some extent by the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

In so far as Product Liability is concerned this act introduced a form of strict liabilty for defective products in that under the act it is not necessary to prove negligence but merely to prove that the product was defective (within the terms of the Act). The act also gives rights not only against the actual manufacturer but against others such as importers of self branding companies. The intention of these provisions is to make it less difficult for injured parties to claim.

Another statute relevant in this area is the Sale Of Goods Act. This establishes a right of action against the retailer of defective goods without having to prove negligence against the manufacturer or even where negligence of the manufacturer cannot be proved.

If you have been injured by a defective product in the last three years and would like to know if you may entitled to compensation please complete the Application Form to obtain a free legal assessment of your case. We will handle your claim on a No Win No Fee basis at no cost to you.

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