Arkansas Product Liability Lawyers

What Makes a Product Defective?

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 15.1 million people were treated in the ER for injuries related to consumer products in 2024 alone—an 18% increase from the previous year. The CPSC estimates that consumer product-related deaths, injuries, and property damage cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. Many of these injuries involve everyday items that people had every reason to believe were safe.

Under product liability law, something is considered defective when it poses a risk of harm that a reasonable consumer would not expect. Product defects generally fall into one of three categories:

Design Defects

A design defect exists when a product is dangerous by its very nature—before a single unit rolls off the assembly line. The problem isn’t in how it was built; it’s in how it was conceived. An SUV engineered with a center of gravity so high it rolls over in ordinary turns, or a power tool designed without adequate safety guards, has a design defect. Every unit of that product carries the same flaw, and the manufacturer is responsible for all of them.

Manufacturing Defects

A manufacturing defect occurs when the design itself is sound, but something went wrong in the production process. A contaminated batch of food, a medical device assembled with defective components, a vehicle with brake hardware that wasn’t properly installed at the factory—these are manufacturing defects. Unlike a design defect, which affects an entire product line, a manufacturing defect may affect only a portion of the units produced. That doesn’t make the manufacturer any less responsible for the harm caused by those units.

Failure to Warn

Some products carry inherent risks that aren’t obvious to the average consumer. When a manufacturer knows about those risks and fails to disclose them—or buries them in fine print no patient or consumer is likely to read—that is a failure to warn. This applies to prescription drugs whose labels downplay serious side effects, power tools sold without adequate safety instructions, and chemicals marketed without clear disclosure of their toxic properties. A product doesn’t have to be inherently dangerous to give rise to a failure-to-warn claim; it just has to come with risks that a reasonable person would have wanted to know about.

Who Can Be Held Responsible?

One of the most important things an experienced product liability attorney does is look beyond the most obvious target. While the manufacturer that designed or built a defective product is the most common defendant, product liability law recognizes that harm often flows from the choices of multiple parties. Depending on the circumstances of your case, potentially liable parties may include:

• The company that designed the product, if an inherent flaw made it unreasonably dangerous
• The manufacturer, if the defect was introduced during production
• A component or parts supplier, if a specific component that failed was sourced from a third party
• A distributor or wholesaler, if their handling contributed to the problem
• A retailer, if they knew or should have known the product was dangerous
• Any company that marketed the product for uses it was never approved or tested for

Our Arkansas product liability attorneys focus on the entire chain of responsibility—every party whose negligence contributed to your injury, and every insurance policy that may be available to compensate you—so that we’ll be in the best possible position to maximize your compensation.

Product Liability Cases We Handle

Virtually any consumer product can be defective. Over the last several decades, product liability litigation has arisen in connection with:

• Motor Vehicles: Defective vehicles have been linked to rollover crashes, fires from fuel-system failures, sudden unintended acceleration, and structural failures that turn survivable crashes into fatal ones. If a defect in your vehicle contributed to a crash or injury, the manufacturer may be liable regardless of who was driving.
• Auto Parts and Safety Equipment: Defective brakes, tires, airbags, seatbelts, steering systems, and electronic safety features have all been linked to serious injuries and fatalities. Takata’s defective airbag inflators—which sent metal shrapnel into vehicle occupants—represent one of the largest automotive recalls in history, affecting tens of millions of vehicles.
• Dangerous Drugs and Defective Medical Devices: Pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers have a heightened duty of care because the people relying on their products are often in a vulnerable state to begin with. When a defective drug is rushed to market without adequate safety testing, or a medical device fails inside a patient’s body, the consequences can be catastrophic.
• Children’s Products: The CPSC estimates that nursery products alone sent approximately 60,400 children under five to emergency rooms in 2023. A defective car seat that fails in a crash, a toy with small parts that pose a choking hazard, or a crib that collapses during sleep can have unthinkable consequences.
• Household Appliances: Washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators, water heaters, and ranges are fixtures of daily life—and when they fail due to a manufacturing or design defect, they can start fires, cause electrocutions, or release toxic gases into a home.
• Consumer Electronics and Lithium-Ion Batteries: The CPSC reported more than 3,000 lithium battery-related fire and injury incidents in 2022 alone, and the agency has issued a steady stream of recalls and safety warnings involving products from major and lesser-known manufacturers alike.
• Power Tools and Lawn Equipment: Chainsaws, circular saws, nail guns, angle grinders, pressure washers, lawnmowers, and leaf blowers are designed to be powerful—and when they lack adequate safety features or fail unexpectedly, the injuries they cause can be severe and life-altering.
• Industrial and Construction Equipment: When heavy machinery, forklifts, cranes, scaffolding systems, aerial lifts, and construction vehicles malfunction, workers can suffer catastrophic injuries that change the course of their lives. Product liability claims against the equipment manufacturer may be available even when an injured victim is collecting workers’ compensation.
• Sporting Goods and Recreational Equipment: A bicycle helmet that shatters on impact, a climbing harness with a structural defect, or an ATV with a known rollover problem that the manufacturer failed to disclose can all give rise to product liability claims.
• Furniture and Home Goods: Tip-over furniture—particularly dressers and bookshelves—has been the subject of numerous recalls after children were crushed beneath them. Furniture that contains toxic materials, structural failures in beds or bunk beds, and flammable upholstery are other categories of risk.
• Food and Beverage Products: Contaminated food, products containing undisclosed allergens, and mislabeled beverages can cause serious illness, allergic reactions, and in severe cases, death. Manufacturers and distributors who send unsafe food products to market may be liable for the harm they cause, even when the contamination occurred upstream in the supply chain.
• Pesticides and Chemical Products: Lawn and garden chemicals, cleaning products, and industrial solvents can cause serious harm when inadequately labeled, sold without proper safety warnings, or formulated with hazardous ingredients that consumers have no way of identifying.

What Is My Product Liability Claim Worth?

Every product liability case is different, and what your claim might be worth depends on the nature and severity of your injuries, how they have affected your life and livelihood, and a range of other factors that take time and careful analysis to fully understand. What we can tell you is that injured victims in these cases are generally entitled to pursue compensation for:

• Current and future medical expenses: Every cost connected to your injuries, from emergency treatment and surgery to rehabilitation, follow-up care, and any ongoing medical needs your injuries create going forward.
• Lost wages and diminished earning capacity: The income you’ve missed while recovering, and any future earnings you may never fully recover if your injuries affect your ability to work.
• Pain and suffering: Compensation for the physical pain, discomfort, and hardship your injuries have caused and may continue to cause.
• Emotional distress: The psychological impact of a serious injury—including anxiety, depression, and trauma—is real and recognized by the law as compensable harm.
• Loss of consortium: The effect your injuries have had on your relationship with your spouse and family members.
• Wrongful death: If a defective product took the life of someone you love, no settlement will replace what you’ve lost. But a wrongful death claim can provide your family with some measure of financial stability during an unimaginable time, and it holds the responsible parties accountable for the consequences of their choices.

Our Arkansas product liability lawyers work with medical specialists, vocational experts, and life care planners to determine what your injuries mean for every aspect of your life, from your ability to earn a living to your relationships with loved ones. Then we’ll work relentlessly to force each entity responsible for your suffering to pay every dollar you’re owed.

We’re Ready to Fight for You

When a defective product leaves you hurt and struggling, you need someone in your corner who knows how to fight back. Our Arkansas product liability lawyers represent clients in complex claims against major manufacturers, corporations, and insurance companies in state and federal courts throughout Arkansas, southern Missouri, and eastern Oklahoma. As relentless advocates for the injured and wronged, our team will work tirelessly to secure the compensation you need to move forward with your life.

Ready to take the next step? Call 800-671-4100 or contact us online to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation. We’ll listen to your story, answer your questions, and walk you through all your options so you can make the best decision for yourself and your family.