Miami Accident Lawyer Blog
Hover boards were a highly popular gift, if not the most popular gift, during the holiday season of 2015. Yet, beyond their popularity lurks countless cases of personal injuries relating to the hover boards. Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital has seen over 10 hoverboard-related patients with injuries involving broken bones, concussions, and contusions. In one Miami, Florida case, a child was riding on a hoverboard when its batteries died and “locked up.” The child “snapped his arm in half and broke his wrist.” This injured child’s parents say the manufacturer should be held liable as they had knowledge that their hover boards were dangerous; “[t]hey know that there are issues of safety and they’re selling them anyway.”
Product liability cases, or defective product cases, run rampant here in Florida. If you or a loved one are injured at the hands of a defective product, you should hire an experienced products liability attorney. The products liability attorneys at Gerson & Schwartz P.A. are well versed in the complex law of products liability and are here to help ensure that you are adequately compensated for you injuries or loss.
Florida’s Product Liability Law
Per Florida law, when an apparently defective product injures you or a loved one, there may be a cause of action under negligence or products liability theories. Though many products, such as hoverboards, are dangerous, this does not always automatically make them defective. For instance, stovetops become extremely hot when turned on, but that is for purposes of cooking food. By taking away the hot surface would make the product safer, true. However, it would significantly take away from the product’s usefulness or utility. Florida law holds that there must be a balance here. In reaching said balance, courts perform various tests to understand if a particular product is in fact defectively designed. Some courts will require the product be proved defective in design as well as unreasonably dangerous due to a particular defect. Courts ultimately differ in their definition of “unreasonably dangerous.” Some courts, for example, define this as a product that is more dangerous than a reasonably prudent consumer would expect it to be. Other courts define it as a product with risks high enough that a reasonably prudent seller would not place the product in the stream of commerce. Then there are other courts that define it as when the product’s risks outweigh its benefits.
Statute of Limitations
Per Fla. Stat. § 95.11, you have up to four years to file a lawsuit after you are injured in a products liability case. Florida also has a 12-year statute of repose period. This means that your lawsuit must be filed no more than 12 years after the product was sold to its first purchases or lessee. These time limitations must be strictly adhered to. If you do not file within the deadlines, you are most likely barred from later doing so.
Take Action Before it is Too Late!
There are several highly complex laws involved with Florida’s products liability cases. Due to the complexities of the law, it is important that you hire an experienced products liability attorney of Gerson & Schwartz PA. We are experienced and knowledgeable with Florida’s products liability and will fight hard to ensure that you are adequately compensated. We have obtained justice in numerous defective product injuries and deaths from several types of products including defective automobiles, trucks and tires, medical devices, industrial equipment and even cigarettes. Contact our law firm for a FREE consultation.