Decatur Township IN Product Liability Claims

Not every serious injury comes from a crash or a fall. Sometimes the product itself is the problem. A power tool that malfunctions unexpectedly. A vehicle component that fails at highway speed. A children’s product with a design flaw that causes harm. When a defective product injures someone in Decatur Township, Indiana product liability law holds manufacturers, sellers, and distributors accountable regardless of whether they were careless in some obvious way. The defect is the basis of the claim.

How Indiana Product Liability Law Works

Indiana’s Product Liability Act, codified at Indiana Code § 34-20-1-1, creates a cause of action against sellers in the business of selling a product when that product is in a defective condition that renders it unreasonably dangerous, and that condition causes physical harm to a user or consumer.

The seller includes manufacturers, distributors, and retail sellers. All can face liability when a defective product causes injury. That broad reach matters practically because manufacturers sometimes have limited U.S. assets or go out of business, and having additional defendants in the distribution chain expands the available sources of recovery.

Indiana applies a strict liability standard to product liability claims in many circumstances. This means the injured person doesn’t have to show the manufacturer was negligent in a traditional sense. The defect and the injury are what the claim is built around.

Three Types of Product Defects Under Indiana Law

Product liability claims arise from three distinct defect categories, and a given case may involve more than one.

Manufacturing defects occur when a product leaves the assembly line different from its intended design. The design itself was sound, but something went wrong during production. A batch of medication contaminated during manufacturing, or a vehicle component that wasn’t built to the specified tolerance, are examples.

Design defects exist when every unit of a product carries the same unreasonable risk because the design itself is flawed. When a product’s fundamental architecture creates danger even when perfectly manufactured, the claim targets the design rather than a production error.

Failure to warn applies when a product carries risks that aren’t obvious to a reasonable user and the manufacturer failed to provide adequate instructions or warnings. A cleaning agent that creates toxic fumes when combined with another common product, without any warning label, creates this type of claim.

How Indiana’s Comparative Fault Rules Apply to Product Claims

Indiana’s modified comparative fault system under Indiana Code § 34-51-2-6 applies to product liability cases. When an injured person misused the product in a way that wasn’t reasonably foreseeable, or ignored clear warnings, their fault percentage reduces the recovery. At 51% or more attributed to the injured person, recovery is barred entirely.

Manufacturers routinely argue misuse or assumption of risk to shift fault toward the plaintiff. These arguments require a substantive response based on the actual use of the product and what the manufacturer could reasonably have anticipated.

What Evidence Matters in a Product Liability Case

The defective product itself is often the most important piece of evidence. Preserving it before it’s repaired, discarded, or returned is essential. Photographs documenting the condition at the time of injury, records showing where the product was purchased and when, and any documentation of similar failures or complaints involving the same product all contribute to the claim.

A Decatur Township personal injury lawyer works with product liability experts who can examine the product, identify the defect category, and provide the expert testimony that Indiana courts require to establish liability.

Pavlack Law, LLC has represented injured Indiana residents for over two decades, with attorney Eric Pavlack handling every case with the personal attention and legal depth serious product liability claims require. If a defective product injured you or a family member in Decatur Township, reach out to a Decatur Township personal injury lawyer to discuss the product, the injury, and what Indiana law provides.