How Do You Prove A Product Liability Case in Montana?

Have you or a loved one been injured by a faulty or dangerous product in Montana? If so, you may be entitled to compensation—read on to find out about the basics of Montana product liability law, and what the first step should be (contact your local Kalispell personal injury attorney) as you seek damages.

Montana Product Liability Overview

Like many other states, Montana personal injury law allows recovery of damages for injuries caused for three separate reasons:

• Design defects, or injuries that were caused by issues in the design of your product, such as safety issues concerns being ignored in favor of a less costly design
• Manufacturing defects, or injuries that were caused by problems in the manufacturing of your product—such as low-quality materials being used.
• Failure to warn, or injuries caused because the seller, designer or manufacturer did not adequately warn consumers of the product’s true dangers.

For example, a “perfectly” manufactured product can still cause injuries or harm if the design is flawed, and a “perfectly” designed product can do the same if there are errors or cut corners during manufacturing.

Likewise, there is no 100% safe product—but failing to warn customers of danger before they buy can still cause unnecessary, avoidable injuries.

For the purposes of today’s article, we’ll look at a hypothetical design defect, and how your attorney would go about proving liability.

Step One: Proving Your Product Was Defective

The law considers a product defective is it is more dangerous than a user or buyer can reasonably anticipate.

That means that even if a product is meticulously, carefully made and designed, the consumer has a right to certain expectations of safety from that product.

Your lawyer will attempt to prove that at the time of design, manufacture or sale of your product, that the product in question was already defective. After that, they must separately prove…

Step Two: The Defective Product Caused Your Injury

Your lawyer must then establish causation—that your defective product directly caused or contributed to your injury.

To do that, you must demonstrate evidence such as medical records or your doctor’s testimony that your injury and the product are linked.

According to Montana state law and precedence, the most convincing evidence of a link between your injury and the product is the opinion of an expert on said product. In situations where that isn’t possible, your own testimony may prove whether or not the product is defective.

If you were using the product in a way that was “reasonable” and were still injured, then you very well may have a product liability case.

How Strong is My Product Liability Case?

The only way to know for sure if you have a product liability case, how strong that case is, and how much your case might be worth, is to get in touch with an experienced Montana personal injury law firm like Glacier Law.
Call us or fill out our form below to schedule a free interview, and we’ll help you figure out the first step to recover the compensation you truly deserve.