It’s easier to get damages for product liability, mainly because it’s often easier to prove than other personal injury lawsuits. But what is the product liability law? What if you are injured? What damages can you get?

What is product liability?
This occurs when a company is held responsible for a defective product. You may have picked it up with no worries, but upon using it suffered an injury. Your child may have been injured upon using a toy, or a cutting device worked improperly and you were hurt.

However, the company who can be sued is not just the manufacturer. The seller who carried the item has liability too. The manufacturer, manufacturer of parts, wholesaler, and the retail store you bought the item from can all be held liable. Because of this, it’s easier to get high amounts in damages in many lawsuits.

For our purposes, the product that caused an injury must meet your expectations. If you are surprised by some part of the product, if it does not work as it says and you are hurt, if it causes other damages to  you and your family, the liability law comes into effect.

What if you’re injured?
If you or a loved one are hurt, you typically are protected by both federal and state laws. State laws can differ. What can happen is you are hurt, there is proof your injury being the result of the product, and you can sue in state courts if not settling beforehand. It used to be there were laws protecting companies, where there had to be some form of agreement between buyer and seller if damages were desired. State laws can differ in this, but in most states today that law is gone. If you buy a product in a store, and are injured by it, you often have a right to damages.

What damages can you get?
State laws for damages are based on negligence, strict liability, and breach of warranty. You’re protected by statute laws too. In terms of winning in court, since it can be easier to prove the injury, your chances of winning are high. Clearly, you must have a real case. You also need the help of a personal injury lawyer. But since more parties are involved in this, your possibility for damages can be higher.

Who can help?
You need a personal injury lawyer, namely one experienced in product liability law. If you’re unsure if you have a case, a consultation with a lawyer can help. There is no other real option; unless you’re a personal injury lawyer, you need to hire one. It can quite often lead to a better settlement. And since most personal injury lawsuits are settled before court, you can get damages much faster.

Officials in Congress are calling for a modernization of food safety laws after a recent Salmonella outbreak responsible for making 474 people ill in 43 states and killing as many as six people.

Rep. Rosa L DeLauro (D-Connecticut) said that the recent outbreak confirms the need to modernize food safety laws.

“Given the numerous food-borne illness outbreaks over the past several years, it is becoming painfully clear that the current regulatory structure is antiquated and ill-equipped to handle these extensive investigations,” stated Rep. DeLauro.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believe that they have traced the tainted peanut butter and peanut paste responsible for the most recent outbreak to Peanut Corp.’s Blakely, Georgia, plant.

Production at the plant has ceased and recalls of products made with peanut products from the plant continue.

General Mills announced Monday a recall of its LARABAR Peanut Butter Cookie flavor snack bars and JamFrakas Peanut Butter Blisscrisp flavor snack bars because they were made with peanut butter purchased from Peanut Corp., the suspected source of the contamination.

Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products on Sunday announced its recall of all Wal-Mart “Bakery” brands of peanut butter cookies, peanut butter no-bake cookies and peanut-butter-fudge no-bake cookies.

McKee Foods also announced on Sunday a recall of its Little Debbie Peanut Butter Toasty and Peanut Butter Cheese sandwich crackers, which were manufactured for McKee by Kellogg Co.

The FDA said that recalls are not linked to any national, name-brand peanut butter. Most of the products from the Blakely plant were sued by food companies to make cookies, cereal, crackers, ice cream and candy. Some peanut butter also went to institutional food service, which supplies schools, hospitals and nursing homes.

Kellogg Co. announced Monday that it found the bacteria in one package of Austin Quality Foods Toasty Crackers with Peanut Butter, a product that had been recalled prior to the finding.

A complete list of items included in the recall is available on the FDA’s Web site.