3 Most Common Types of Product Liability Insurance Claims

3 Most Common Types of Product Liability Insurance Claims

Product liability insurance is very necessary for all businesses to carry today. There are three types of potential product defects that allow for consumer-backed product liability lawsuits to enter into the court system:

1. Manufacturing defects. This type of defect occurs when a manufacturer attempts to make a safe product that becomes flawed while going through the manufacturing process. Example: An important screw is missing.

2. Design defects. This type of defect occurs when the product is created correctly by a manufacturer who is selling unsafe products to the public. The manufacturer is often unaware that his products are unsafe. Example: A battery operated toy with a locking battery compartment that can still allow leaking batteries to drip acid onto children through the cracks around the battery door.

3. Information defects.

This type of defect occurs when a product is unavoidably dangerous in some manner and there are no written communications about this danger included with the product to warn consumers about the possible harms. Example from a real product: "Caution! Iron gets hot."

When a consumer gets hurt, they are allowed to blame each business from the manufacturer through the one with the minimum-wage sales girls down on Main Street for the damages that they are suffering through After all, somebody along the way really should have thought of yelling: "Caution! Iron gets hot!" to save the consumer from getting injured unnecessarily.

Today, every business that handles or supplies any type of product that is going to a consumer needs to have a form of product liability insurance. This includes everybody from the Mom and Pop shops on eBay through the big name product manufacturers.

It is a sad fact today that all businesses can be sued if a product that they are making or manufacturing, distributing, refurbishing, or selling injures an unsuspecting consumer.

Not long ago, we were all treated to a chuckle while reading about the hamburger-king McDonalds getting sued over a cup of coffee that was not wearing a warning label that it was in fact a hot liquid. While reading, millions of us thought about the time that our morning cups of coffee splashed us on the way to work, and wondered what the court system would do with that lawsuit. That consumer won their lawsuit.

Today, nothing being made, manufactured, distributed, refurbished, or sold is guaranteed to be safe from a product liability lawsuit. Product liability insurance covers the costs of defending yourself in court if a consumer names your business as a defendant in a lawsuit. Various types of product liability insurance policies exist for businesses, and the amount of coverage on each policy is different. It is always better to be safe than sorry in today's sue-happy world.

Gemma-Leigh Garner is a freelance copywriter that writes on many different insurance topics such as product liability insurance and helping manufacturers & retailers deal with product liability protection plus other related topics.

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