Were You Injured While Opening A Package Or Gift?

It may sound surprising, until you think back to a time when you tried to wrestle a plastic clamshell package open without a knife or scissors. More Americans are injured by defective products and packaging each year than you may suspect. In fact, clamshell packaging alone results in 6,000 hospitalizations each year, and these injuries are no joke, including things like fingertip amputations, severed tendons, and severe eye injuries. Often, though, it’s not just that the type of packaging is difficult to open, but that it is impossible to open it safely or without causing injury. When this is the case and injury results, you may have legal options available to you that will allow you to recover for the harm that you have suffered.

Defectively Designed or Manufactured Product Packaging

If a company designs a product or packaging for a product that cannot be safely operated or opened, or manufactures their packaging in a way that will result in injury, they can be held accountable under the principles of product liability. Unlike other forms of personal injury law which require you to establish that the company or other party was negligent in causing your injury, product liability is held to a standard of strict liability, meaning that if the product or packaging is shown to be defectively manufactured or designed, then all you must do is prove that you were injured by it. You are not responsible for proving any additional ill will, knowledge, or negligence on the part of the company. For this reason, the knowledge that you have been injured by a defective product is enough to give you a good chance of success when assessing your chances.

Types of Defective Product Packaging that Causes Injury

In some cases, glass or plastic containers may shatter. Plastic containers can also be defective and break in a manner that causes injury. For instance, the press-pump on a lotion container may be made with an inappropriately thin plastic or with an ineffective design, that causes the pump to snap when pressure is applied, causing injury to the finger of the person using it. In other cases, the packaging may contain hazardous materials or insufficient warnings, instructions, or information. If the packaging was opaque and the item was not secured effectively inside, the consumer may injure themselves when they unknowingly reach inside. In some tragic cases, packing peanuts or bubble wrap inside of children’s toys or packages has resulted in suffocation or death when not accompanied by suitable warnings or instructions to remove it prior to use.

Contact Hawkins Spizman Trial Lawyers

If you have been injured by a defective product or its packaging in the Atlanta, Dunwoody, Alpharetta, Cobb County, Fulton County, Gwinnett County, Johns Creek, Sandy Springs, or anywhere in Georgia, the experienced product liability attorneys at Hawkins Spizman Trial Lawyers are ready to help. Contact our Cobb County personal injury attorneys today to schedule a free consultation and find out how we will hold the responsible company accountable and get you the compensation that you are entitled to.

Resource:

thestar.com/news/insight/2017/03/04/clamshell-packaging-is-an-often-dangerous-lesson-in-bad-design.html