San Diego Product Liability Lawyers

If you were hurt by defective consumer products, you may be facing painful injuries, missed work, and uncertainty about what to do next, especially if a dangerous product failed during normal use. Product liability is the area of law that holds manufacturers and sellers responsible when a defective product causes harm, and California’s strict liability rules may allow you to pursue compensation without having to prove careless conduct. Our San Diego product liability lawyers at BD&J can help you understand your options and take action.

San Diego County personal injury lawyers at BD&J are available to help you evaluate your next steps.

Contact us for a free, confidential case evaluation—we’re available 24/7.

What Is Strict Liability in California Product Liability Cases?

In many California product cases, strict liability means you usually do not need to prove the manufacturer was negligent if a defective product caused your injuries. Instead, the focus is often on whether the product was defective and whether that defect caused harm when the product was used in a reasonably foreseeable way.

If you have questions about strict liability and what it may mean for your case, BD&J’s California product defect attorneys can help you understand how the law applies to your injuries.

In San Diego, product liability cases may involve medical devices, consumer electronics, vehicle parts, and imported goods moving through a port economy, so identifying where a product came from and who handled it can be especially important.

What Compensation Can You Recover in a Product Liability Case?

Depending on your injuries and losses, a product liability claim may allow you to seek compensation for:

• Medical bills (emergency care, hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitation, and future treatment)
• Lost income (time missed from work, reduced earning capacity, and lost benefits)
• Pain and suffering (physical pain, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life)
• Property damage (for example, damage caused by a product fire or malfunction)
• Wrongful death damages when a defective product causes a fatal injury
• Punitive damages in appropriate cases, such as when the evidence supports especially harmful conduct—often requiring strong proof like internal company documents, prior similar incidents, or recall history showing the defendant knew about the danger and failed to act

Common Injuries Sustained in Product Liability Claims

Defective products can cause a wide range of injuries, and if you’re the one living with the consequences, the effects can be severe, expensive, and long-lasting. The following are common injuries associated with product liability cases, along with examples of how they can happen to you in everyday use.

Burns

Burn injuries in product liability cases often result from overheated electronics, faulty appliances, and flammable materials. For example, if a phone battery overheats and ignites while charging, you can suffer painful burns that require immediate medical care. In severe cases, you may require skin grafts and long-term medical care.

Head and Brain Injuries

Defective products can cause serious head and traumatic brain injuries, especially in incidents involving faulty safety equipment. For example, if you rely on a defective helmet or an airbag that fails to deploy, you may suffer skull fractures, cognitive impairments, and other injuries that change how you work and live.

Broken Bones and Soft Tissue Injuries

Many defective products can cause musculoskeletal injuries, such as broken bones and muscle tears, which can limit your mobility and keep you out of work. For example, if a chair collapses under normal use at home, or unsound scaffolding fails at a construction site, you may fall and suffer fractures, sprains, or torn ligaments.

Organ Damage and Poisoning

Toxic exposure from defective pharmaceuticals, unsafe food, and chemical-based products can result in serious organ damage that may require ongoing treatment. For instance, if you consume contaminated food or take a tainted medication, you may develop food poisoning, bacterial infections, or internal complications that lead to hospitalization.

Choking or Suffocation

Defective products can lead to choking, suffocation, or strangulation when they:

• Contain small and detachable parts
• Lacks proper safety mechanisms
• Fail to meet regulatory standards

These injuries occur more frequently with children’s products. For example, if you buy a toy with loose components or use a poorly designed crib, highchair, or stroller, a child can be exposed to a choking or entrapment hazard in seconds.

Types of Defective Product Cases

Product liability cases can refer to many kinds of products, including:

• Consumer goods
• Vehicles and automotive parts
• Pharmaceuticals and medical devices (including issues tied to medical device recalls)
• Food and beverage products
• Industrial and workplace equipment
• Safety devices

Across the wide range of products, product claims fall into one or more categories — manufacturing, design, or communication defects. Each type presents specific legal challenges and evidence requirements. Depending on the facts, your legal theory may involve strict liability, negligence, and/or breach of warranty, and BD&J can help you evaluate the best path for your product defect cases.

Manufacturing Defects

A manufacturing defect refers to an error in the production process that results in the product’s deviation from the intended design. These defects typically stem from:

• Substandard or incorrect materials
• Human error on assembly lines
• Faulty manufacturing equipment and machinery
• Inadequate quality control

In these cases, defects lie not in the design but rather in how the product is created. Unlike design defects, which affect an entire product line, a manufacturing defect may impact anything from a single unit to an entire production run. 

For example, if a vehicle’s brakes are manufactured from substandard or incorrect materials, they may fail under normal use and increase the risk of a crash. Since the brakes weren’t produced according to the intended specifications, collecting evidence for a manufacturing defect claim usually involves analysis of the item’s flaws.

In California, you generally prove a manufacturing defect by showing the product deviated from its intended design and that this defect was a substantial factor in causing your harm during reasonably foreseeable use.

Design Defects

Design defects occur when a product’s design makes it inherently and unreasonably hazardous to consumers, even when used as intended. These defects affect every unit of the product because the issue originates in its designs or plans, not the production process.

Consider design defects in a vehicle. A serious accident may cause almost any vehicle to roll over, but vehicles are generally designed to minimize these risks. In certain cases, aspects of a vehicle’s design, such as an excessively high center of gravity, can make it unreasonably prone to rollover accidents. If the driver operates the vehicle as intended and suffers a rollover accident, the error may stem from its fundamental design.

To demonstrate design defects, courts often use consumer-expectation tests, which determine whether an average user would find the product unreasonably dangerous. They may also apply the risk-utility test to measure whether the benefits of the design outweigh the risks or if a safe alternative design is possible.

In California, you generally prove a design defect by showing the design was unreasonably dangerous and caused your injury, often evaluated through consumer-expectation and/or risk-utility analysis.

Failure to Warn Defects

Failure to warn defects, also known as marketing or communication defects, occurs when the responsible party fails to provide adequate warnings, instructions, or labels about the product’s potential risks. A product can be defective even when it is otherwise properly designed and manufactured if you aren’t sufficiently informed about safe use, limitations, or foreseeable dangers.

Examples of failure to warn of defects include:

• A medication that doesn’t list potentially harmful side effects
• Cleaning products without instructions for safe handling and use
• Children’s toys without age restrictions or choking hazard warnings

In California, you generally prove a failure-to-warn defect by showing the warnings or instructions were inadequate and that the lack of an adequate warning contributed to your injury.

Who Can Be Held Liable in Product Liability Cases?

Product liability claims can involve one or more responsible parties, including:

• Manufacturers: Flaws in design, materials, or safety testing may hold manufacturers responsible.
• Distributors and wholesalers: Entities supplying products to retailers or manufacturers may be held liable if they fail to warn about known dangers or continue selling recalled products.
• Retailers and sellers: Stores that sell unsafe or defective products may be liable for injuries if they fail to remove known defective items from shelves or misrepresent a product’s safety.
• Third-party organizations: Pharmaceuticals, safety equipment, and other products must pass safety testing before consumers can access them. Third-party testing organizations may be responsible for flawed testing or misrepresented safety.
• Government agencies: In rare cases, regulatory failures may lead to injuries and implicate government agencies for failing to enforce standards or approving dangerous products.

In many cases, liability can extend through the chain of distribution, meaning a manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler, retailer, or testing entity may be responsible when their role in getting the product to you (or assuring its safety) contributed to a defective product reaching consumers.

What Evidence Is Needed to Prove a Product Liability Claim?

Proving a product liability claim requires strong evidence that the defective product caused harm. The evidence should show that the product’s design, manufacturing, or communication was defective. It must also demonstrate that the defect directly caused injuries and resulted in economic or non-economic damages, such as medical expenses, lost wages, or significant emotional distress.

Depending on the specific case, evidence may include:

• The original product
• Proof of purchase and product instructions
• Medical records for treatments and medication
• Expert testimonies from engineers or safety specialists
• Photo and video evidence
• Witness statements
• Recall notices and safety reports

If you can, preserve what you have. Keep the defective product (do not repair it), along with the packaging, labels, instructions, receipts, serial numbers, recall notices, photos of the product and scene, and your medical records. BD&J can use this information to help document what happened and evaluate potential claims.

You can also do a quick recall-check workflow: (1) look for manufacturer and retailer recall announcements; (2) search the Consumer Product Safety Commission database when consumer products are involved; (3) check the FDA database when drugs or medical devices may be involved; and (4) save screenshots or printouts of what you find so it can be reviewed with your legal team.

How Long Do You Have to File a Product Liability Claim in California?

You generally have 2 years to file a product liability lawsuit for personal injury in California (California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1). If you miss the deadline, you may lose the right to pursue compensation.

If your injuries weren’t immediately apparent, you may hear about exceptions like delayed discovery, and cases involving injured minors or fraud on the defendant’s part may also allow for extended deadlines. For more information, you can review California Courts guidance on statutes of limitations, and the statute text.

If you’re unsure how the deadline applies to you, contact BD&J as soon as possible so your timeline can be evaluated.

How a San Diego Product Liability Lawyer Can Help

Working with a San Diego product liability lawyer can let you focus on recovery while BD&J handles the legal work needed to build your claim. Your case can start with a detailed investigation, including preserving the product and packaging, gathering medical records, identifying how the product failed, and tracing the chain of distribution.

BD&J also coordinates with engineers, safety specialists, and other experts to help evaluate whether the product suffered from a manufacturing defect, design defect, or failure to warn, and to connect the defect to your injuries and damages.

Once the evidence is developed, BD&J negotiates with insurance companies and defense counsel for compensation that reflects the full impact of what you’re dealing with. If the other side refuses to offer a fair result, the firm prepares the case for litigation and trial.

Depending on the facts, you may have an individual claim, or your case may overlap with broader litigation such as a class action or coordinated proceedings. BD&J can help you understand what approach fits your situation.

BD&J handles product liability cases on a contingency basis, which means you do not pay upfront legal fees.

Getting Started with BD&J

1. Preserve the product and related items. Keep the defective product, packaging, instructions, and any receipts or serial numbers, and avoid repairing or altering the product.
2. Document your injuries and losses. Get medical care, keep copies of records and bills, and take photos of injuries and any visible product damage.
3. Schedule a free consultation. Reach out to BD&J for a free, confidential case evaluation so you can understand whether you may have a claim.
4. Let BD&J handle the claim. Once you hire BD&J, the firm can investigate, work with experts, communicate with insurers and opposing counsel, and pursue the compensation you deserve.

Speak with a San Diego Product Liability Lawyer Today

If you’re dealing with pain, uncertainty, and mounting bills after a defective product injury, you don’t have to take on the process alone. BD&J has 20+ years of experience representing injured Californians and has recovered more than $3 billion* for clients.

Contact BD&J 24/7 to schedule a free, confidential consultation and learn how we can help.

Frequently Asked Questions About San Diego Product Liability Claims

What is the difference between a design defect and a manufacturing defect?

A manufacturing defect is typically a mistake that happens during production, where your specific product deviates from the intended design. A design defect involves a problem with the design itself, meaning the product line may be unreasonably dangerous even when manufactured correctly.

How long do I have to file a product liability lawsuit in California?

In many cases, you have 2 years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit in California, but there can be exceptions depending on when you discovered the injury and other factors. If you’re unsure, it’s important to speak with BD&J as soon as possible.

Do I have to prove the manufacturer was negligent?

Not always. Many California product liability claims can be brought under strict liability, where you may not need to prove negligence if a defective product caused your injuries.

What kinds of compensation can I recover in a product liability case?

Depending on your situation, you may be able to recover compensation for medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, property damage, wrongful death damages, and, when supported by the evidence, punitive damages.

What should I do with the defective product after I’m injured?

If possible, keep the product and related items (packaging, instructions, receipts, and serial numbers) in a safe place, and avoid repairing or altering it. Preserving the evidence can be important to proving what went wrong and who is responsible.