Products Liability

A multi-national manufacturer, a regional distributor, a local supply company, even a Mom & Pop hardware store – all are potential defendants in an action by someone injured by a product. The law provides a remedy to injured persons, and manufacturers and suppliers find themselves constantly at risk for lawsuits for everything from a scratch to a devastating injury. Unfortunately for the claimant, not all claims are well-founded, and not every product that causes an injury is dangerous.

Wayman, Irvin & McAuley, LLC has been providing a defense to products liability defendants for over thirty-five years. We have defended cases where the injury was unable to be proven, where the product was misused, where the user assumed the risk and where the potential dangers of the product were far outweighed by the usefulness in society. We have provided a defense to suppliers from claims based upon the sale of items as simple as a candle holder and as complicated as an engine on a piece of construction equipment. A runaway wheelchair, a piece of playground equipment, a swimming pool, a ladder, even an automobile – the list of products and their suppliers defended by our professional staff goes on and on.

The firm has the experience needed in handling experts frequently employed by this type of case. Our attorneys have successfully demonstrated in cases over the years, through the use of expert testimony, that products were not defective or had adequate warnings. Medical experts have been retained to help reveal that injuries claimed to be caused by manufacturing defects, design defects or the failure to warn were actually pre-existing or non-existent. We have shown where injuries were caused by something other than the product in question. We have challenged plaintiff experts through Daubert disputes.

If a product is shown to be defective, and where the best interests of the client are served through mediation and/or settlement, the firm has repeatedly been able to forge a favorable resolution, offering protection to the client and avoiding a windfall to the claimant.

Defendants, either directly or more frequently through their insurers, have come to rely on Wayman, Irvin & McAuley, LLC in this tough, complicated and challenging area of law. Whether the provider of a ballpoint pen or a massive piece of equipment, a manufacturer or supplier has found the defense offered by the litigators at Wayman, Irvin & McAuley to be solid, innovative and zealous.

Feel free to contact Dale K. Forsythe for a more exhaustive discussion of the firm’s experience in this complex area of law.