The law that applies to your claim
Three ways a product can be defective
A manufacturing defect, where the item departed from its own design. A design defect, where the design itself is unreasonably dangerous. Or a failure to warn, where the danger was foreseeable and no adequate warning or instruction was given.
The risk-utility test — Voss v. Black & Decker
New York judges a design defect by weighing the product’s risks against its utility, and asks whether a safer alternative design was feasible at the time. That alternative usually has to be demonstrated by an engineer, not merely asserted.
Who can be sued
Strict liability reaches everyone in the distribution chain — manufacturer, component maker, distributor and retailer — not only the company whose name is on the label.
CPLR §214-c — latent injuries
Three years from injury is the ordinary rule, but for harm from latent exposure to a substance the period runs from discovery of the injury. Warranty claims under the UCC run on their own separate clock.
Preserve the product. Nothing matters more.
The single most common way a product case is lost is that the product was thrown away, repaired, or returned to the seller.
Keep it exactly as it is — along with the packaging, manual, receipt, model and serial numbers, and any remaining contents. Do not let an employer, insurer or retailer take possession of it. Photograph it in place before anything is moved.
What these claims involve
- Industrial machinery with inadequate guarding or defeated interlocks
- Power tools, ladders and lifting equipment that fail under normal use
- Vehicle and tire defects, including restraint and airbag failures
- Defective medical devices and implants
- Household appliances that overheat or ignite
- Children’s products, furniture tip-overs and recalled goods
- Chemicals and materials sold without adequate warning
Where product cases meet workplace cases
A great many defective-product injuries happen at work — a press without a guard, a saw with a removed safety, a lift that fails. Workers’ compensation bars a claim against your employer but not against the manufacturer.
These two claims run together, and the compensation lien has to be managed alongside. See our workplace accident page for how that fits together.
How long you have to act
- Three years from the date of the accident for most negligence claims (CPLR §214).
- Two years for wrongful death (EPTL §5-4.1).
- 90 days to serve a notice of claim where a city, county, school district, transit authority or other public body is involved (General Municipal Law §50-e), with suit generally within one year and 90 days.
The 90-day rule is the one that quietly ends otherwise strong cases. If a public entity may be involved, that is the first thing to check — not the last.
What it costs
Nothing up front. These cases are handled on contingency: there is no fee unless we win, and the consultation is free. You will be told the percentage and how expenses are handled, in writing, before you sign anything.
Common questions
The product was recalled. Does that decide it?
It helps, but it is not automatic proof. A recall is evidence the manufacturer identified a problem; you must still show the defect caused your injury.
I bought it second-hand.
Strict liability generally follows the product, not the purchase. Buying used does not by itself defeat a claim, though how the product was maintained will be examined.
I had modified the equipment.
It will be raised, and substantial modification can be a defense. But a foreseeable modification — particularly a guard removed because production demanded it — does not necessarily end the claim.
