Although they often cause catastrophic injuries, product defects and dangerous premises often go unrecognized, and consequently, are not pursued in our civil justice system. Many of the attorneys at Thomas, Means, Gillis & Seay, P.C. have considerable experience representing people who have been injured by defective consumer and industrial products.

We handle a wide range of defective products cases, including vehicle rollovers, tire failures, helmet failures, defective medical equipment, and adulterated and foreign onjects in food.

More often than not, recovering damages from the manufacturer of a defective product involves extremely complex litigation, using experts in many scientific disciplines. Generally, product defects which cause injuries fall into the following categories:

• Design Defect: The manufacturer of a product may fail to design it in such a way that it is reasonably safe for its intended and/or foreseeable uses.
• Manufacturing Defect: In some cases, a product has been designed safely, but a problem in the manufacturing process has rendered it defective and unreasonably dangerous.
• Inadequate Warnings/Packaging/Marketing Defect: Sometimes, products cannot be designed and manufactured in a way that all risks of injury to the user are eliminated. In such situations, the manufacturer of the product is required to place an effective warning on the product or its packaging which informs the user of the risk of injury, as well as how to avoid it. The maker of a product can be held liable for injuries caused by a hazard of which he was aware, but failed to warn the consumer or user.

The ability to recognize product liability issues is undoubtedly one of the most important skills of the successful product liability lawyer. Unfortunately, because product defects frequently do not cause the incident in which the injury is sustained, but instead make the injuries more severe, product defects are overlooked.
For example, consider a case in which drugs or alcohol was involved in a car crash. While intoxication caused the crash in the first place, the driver's injuries from the crash may be more severe because of the vehicle's lack of durability in a crash (i.e. "crash- worthiness"). Similarly, while cooking oil accidentally left on a stove may be the immediate cause of a household fire, a defective smoke alarm or security system may be the cause of death by smoke inhalation or severe burns.

Product liability issues may be involved in many situations where a person has been catastrophically injured or killed. The products liability attorneys of Thomas, Means, Gillis & Seay, P.C. have handled the following types of products liability cases:

Consumer Products

• automobile crashworthiness litigation
• defective consumer electronics
• defective and dangerous household appliances
• defective and dangerous power tools and equipment
• defective and dangerous toys
• flammable clothing and sleep wear

Household Products

• prescription drugs
• over-the-counter drugs
• dietary supplements
• cosmetics and hair care products
• food

Industrial Products

• inadequately guarded punch press machines
• inadequately guarded die press machines
• inadequately guarded meat and poultry processing machines
• defectively designed forklifts and other loading machinery
• defectively designed scaffolding and other lifting systems

A number of sport utility vehicles have been proven to have stability problems or other design flaws that make them prone to rolling over under certain circumstances, sometimes resulting in roof crush or passenger ejectment. We have successfully handled many SUV rollover cases involving a number a defective automobile components, including defective stability systems, defective seat belts, defective roofs and roof supports, and other design flaws. We have the experience, knowledge base, resources and top experts to handle these often challenging products cases. We also maintain our own vehicle storage facility for our clients' vehicles that are involved in serious collisions and require further testing.

Certain ATV and UTV sports recreational vehicles have have been proven to have stability problems or other design flaws that make them prone to rolling over under certain circumstances. One such UTV is the Yamaha Rhino, and we are currently handling and investigating accidents involving roll overs and other injuries while using a Yamaha Rhino.

Certain tires have been proven to have design flaws or defective components such as valve stems that may result in tread separation or blow outs, which can be devestating at moderate to high speeds. We have successfully handled cases invloving defective automobile and motorcycle tires and we have the experience, knowledge base, resources and top experts to handle these often challenging products cases.

Motorcycle or bicycle helmets with design flaws or other defective conditions can lead to traumatic head injuries or death. We have successfully handled cases invloving defective motorcycle and bicylce helmets and we have the experience, knowledge base, resources and top experts to handle these often challenging products cases.

We have handled a number of defective products cases involving a variety of medical goods and equipment. We have the experience, knowledge base, resources and top experts to handle these often challenging products cases.

We handle a variety of cases involving adulterated foods, including food poisoning and foreign objects found in food.