Iowa Products Liability Law
Des Moines Products Liability Lawyer
Fighting for the consumer
No matter how much you may try to protect yourself and your family by following consumer alerts, product recall notices, and product advisories, the sheer number of products that we're all exposed to every day make it impossible to be fully protected no matter what you do. We are here to help when you or a loved one are injured or killed by a defective product. There are a tremendous number of strong state and federal laws that we can turn to in our efforts to achieve for compensation for your loss.
This is an area of law meant to protect the consumer from dangerous or defective products. The law holds product designers, product manufacturers, product distributors, and product retailers liable for providing the public with products that they knew were defective or should have known were defective. Significant money damages are available when that happens.
Products defect law protects the consumer when a product is defective because of improper design, improper manufacturing, inadequate or no warnings, or negligent marketing. Improper design is when a product, even when used correctly and for its intended use, is dangerous to property, the user, or to others. Improper manufacturing is just as its name implies: the product is incorrectly made and consumers are at risk because of the mistake. Inadequate or no warnings claims focus on whether dangerous aspects of a product should've been warned about or whether the warnings that were given should've been better. Finally, negligent marketing is when a product has insufficient warnings, labels, diagrams, or instructions, or is marketed for a use other than its intended purpose.
Product warranty law protects the buyer in a commercial transaction, ensuring that the buyer receives a suitable product. Whether the warranty is expressly stated or just implied by the product, the seller is responsible for delivering a product that meets this warranty.
We offer additional information about specific products issues through the following posts on our blog:
Product Liability For Defective Design
Product Manufacturers’ Liability For Failing To Warn Of Product Dangers
The Basics Of Iowa’s Private Consumer Fraud Statute
My Car's Airbag Failed -- Do I Have A Case?
Almost any type of product can cause injuries. Examples include:
Prescription Drugs/Supplements: Prescription drug/supplement cases include injuries from complications caused by side effects, false claims about the drug, errors in packaging or drug information, contaminated drugs, failure to instruct on how to safely take the drug, and failure to warn about the risk of any side effects.
Recreational Products: Cases involving recreational products include both safety gear (like helmets, pads, and guards) and recreational or sporting equipment. Many types of injuries can result from an accident during a recreational activity, including severe lacerations, eye injuries, fractured bones, spinal cord injuries, and traumatic brain injuries.
Power Machinery/Tools/Lawn Care Devices: These cases include injuries such as fractures, lacerations, traumatic brain injuries, amputations, and spinal cord injuries.
Vehicles, Including Cars, Trucks, Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs), Recreational Vehicles, And Motorcycles: Injuries in these types of cases can be caused by defective vehicle parts or components, such as airbags, tires, seat belts, brakes, fuel lines, and children's car seats.
Industrial/Agricultural Equipment: Examples include tractors, hay balers, combines, bulldozers, and augers.
What are my rights to monetary compensation?
Iowa law provides strong remedies if you or a loved one are injured or killed because of a defective product. You may be able to recover money damages for, among other things, past and future medical expenses, past and future physical and mental pain and suffering, and past and future disability or loss of function of the body. If the accident caused a death, an additional series of money damages for wrongful death may also be applicable. We invite you to take a moment to browse additional information about money damages that we've provided on our Personal Injury And Wrongful Death page.
We can help if you miss work or lose your job because of injuries from a defective product
Our Des Moines law firm can help in two ways if an injury from a defective product causes you trouble at work or results in your firing. First, Iowa law allows you to recover economic damages for lost wages or loss of earning capacity caused by an accident. Second, our firm also handles employment law matters, including claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act, a federal law that may protect your job if you have to miss work to deal with your own or a loved one's injuries stemming from an accident.
Your attorney is waiting.
We make every effort to provide a same-day response to all communications received during weekday business hours. Initial telephone calls are always free. If it looks like we can help, it'll be our pleasure to meet with you, learn more about your situation, and lend you a hand. We handle as many of our cases as possible on a contingent fee basis, meaning that there's no fee unless we make a monetary recovery for you.
Erbe Law Firm
2501 Grand Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa 50312
(515) 229-0202
Erbe Law Firm has proudly served clients throughout Iowa since 2005 from our Des Moines law firm. We look forward to hearing from you to see whether we can do the same for you.
