You should not need an engineering degree to trust the tools, vehicles and products around you. When a ladder buckles, a forklift control fails, a tire blows apart or a home appliance catches fire during normal use, the people hurt often feel blindsided. They did what the label said, yet they still ended up in the emergency room.
For residents of Delaware County, PA, these incidents can happen on job sites, in warehouses, on busy highways and right at home. Product liability law is the tool that lets you shift the cost of these failures back onto the companies that designed, built and sold the defective product. Schuster Law’s product liability attorneys have spent years handling these complex claims and have recovered significant compensation for clients injured by unsafe products and equipment.
How Product Liability Protects Consumers and Workers
Product liability is built around a simple idea: if a company puts a product into the stream of commerce, it has to make reasonable choices to keep that product safe. In practice, this means designing to accepted safety standards, manufacturing without defects, testing before release, providing clear warnings and recalling or fixing dangerous items when defects come to light.
When a company cuts corners and a person gets hurt, the law allows that injured person to bring a claim against everyone in the product’s chain of distribution, from the designer and manufacturer to wholesalers and retailers. You do not have to choose just one defendant; responsibility can be shared.
Your lawyer’s job is to identify which businesses had control over critical safety decisions and to hold them accountable for the results.
The Main Categories of Defective Products
Most product cases in Pennsylvania involve design, manufacturing or marketing problems.
A design defect exists when a product is inherently unsafe, even if every unit comes off the line exactly as planned. For example, a machine that leaves unguarded pinch points near the operator’s hands may be dangerous by design.
A manufacturing defect happens when the plan is sound but something goes wrong as the product is made. Missing fasteners, wrong materials and broken or poorly installed safety components can all fit into this category.
A marketing defect, often called failure to warn, shows up when real hazards are not clearly communicated. If a risk cannot be engineered out, the company must warn users where they will actually see and understand the message.
Understanding which kind of defect applies influences what evidence your attorney collects and how the case is presented.
Products That Commonly Appear in Liability Lawsuits
Defective products can be found in almost every part of daily life, but certain items appear frequently in serious cases around Delaware County:
Industrial and construction machinery, including presses, conveyors, compactors, forklifts and material-handling systems
Power tools such as saws, grinders and nail guns with poor guarding or faulty switches
Vehicles and components, from braking and steering systems to tires, airbags and seat belts
Household products like space heaters, kitchen appliances, electronics and chargers tied to fires, shocks or breakage
Medical devices and some medications that fail, fracture or carry higher risks than advertised
Each type of product calls for different experts, from mechanical and electrical engineers to medical specialists and human-factors professionals.
Why Product Liability Cases Need Specialized Legal Experience
Product liability claims are some of the most technical and resource-intensive cases in civil law. Schuster Law’s team brings decades of experience and the financial strength to handle them from start to finish.
These cases demand a solid grasp of engineering concepts, manufacturing processes and safety standards across many industries. They also require access to expert witnesses who can test the product, run simulations and explain failures in a clear way. On top of that, your lawyer must understand the web of federal rules, state laws and voluntary standards that govern how products are designed, tested, labeled and recalled.
Without that background and support, it is easy for a case to stall when a large manufacturer pushes back.
How Your Lawyer Proves a Product Liability Claim
To recover for a defective product, your attorney must show four things: the product had a design, manufacturing or warning defect; you were using it in a way the company should have foreseen; the defect caused the incident; and you suffered real damages.
Investigating those points often includes securing the product and storing it safely so it cannot be changed, arranging expert inspections and tests, examining company and regulatory records for prior complaints or recalls, reconstructing the event using photos, witness statements and physical evidence, and compiling detailed proof of medical treatment, lost income and impact on daily life.
Once the facts are assembled, your lawyer presents them in a way that connects each decision the company made to the harm you suffered.
Key Steps a Product Liability Lawyer May Take
From the moment you contact a Delaware County product liability lawyer, the goal is to protect your claim and gather the proof you will need later. In many cases, the attorney will:
Advise you to keep the product, its pieces and all paperwork rather than sending anything back to the manufacturer
Notify involved companies that a claim is being investigated and evidence must be preserved
Coordinate with your doctors to fully document your injuries and likely future medical needs
Work with engineers and other experts to analyze how and why the product failed
Handle all talks with insurance companies so you are not pressured while recovering
You stay in control of major decisions, such as whether to accept a settlement offer, but you do not have to manage the technical or legal details yourself.
Why Injured People Turn to Schuster Law
Schuster Law has recovered millions of dollars for people hurt by unsafe products, defective machinery and dangerous equipment. The firm offers 24/7 free consultations, has the resources to fund complex litigation and works on a contingency fee basis, so you do not pay attorney fees unless there is a recovery.
By calling 610-892-9200, you can speak with a local product liability lawyer who will review your situation, explain your options in clear language and help you decide on the next steps. You do not have to face powerful manufacturers and insurers on your own.
