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Every day, consumers across Ohio rely on products to be safe: the tires on a car, the latest medical device, or even the simplest household appliance. We assume that the companies designing and selling these items have done their job correctly. Sadly, this trust is often broken. When a dangerous or defective product causes serious injury or death, the manufacturer must be held accountable.

Product liability is the area of law designed to protect consumers when a faulty product causes harm. If you were injured by a defective item, you have the right to seek compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. However, fighting a multi-billion-dollar manufacturer and its corporate legal team is a complex and challenging process. It requires a personal injury attorney with specific experience in Ohio’s detailed product liability laws.

This article will explain your legal rights under Ohio law, break down the three fundamental types of product defects, detail the critical steps you must take to protect your case, and outline how a dedicated product liability lawyer in Dayton, OH, can fight for the justice you deserve.

Understanding Ohio Product Liability Law

When you buy a product, whether it is a new medical device, a children’s toy, or an essential car part, you have the right to expect that it will be safe when used as intended. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Dangerous and defective products injure thousands of people every year, and in Ohio, the legal system provides a specific path to hold the responsible companies accountable. This area of law is called product liability.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation an estimated $1 trillion annually. If you or a loved one has been harmed by a faulty item, you are not just a statistic; you are a person who deserves justice and full compensation.

Product liability law in Ohio is largely governed by the Ohio Revised Code (ORC), specifically Sections 2307.71 through 2307.80. These laws define what a product liability claim is and what you must prove to win your case. Unlike a typical injury claim where you must prove a company was negligent (careless), product liability often operates under the powerful rule of strict liability.

What is Strict Liability?

Strict liability is a core concept in Ohio product law. It means that an injured person does not have to prove that the manufacturer or supplier was necessarily careless or negligent. Instead, you only need to prove two things: that the product was defective, and that the defect caused your injury while the product was being used as intended or in a foreseeable way.

This principle is powerful because it focuses the case on the product itself, not on the manufacturer’s internal actions or mistakes. If the product was defective and dangerous when it left the manufacturer’s control, they can be held responsible.

The Parties Responsible for a Defective Product

In a product liability claim, you can pursue compensation from anyone in the chain of distribution. This typically includes:

• The Manufacturer: The company that designed, formulated, produced, constructed, created, assembled, or rebuilt the product or its components.
• The Component Part Manufacturer: The company that made a faulty part that went into the final product.
• The Retailer or Supplier: The store or entity that sold or supplied the product to the public. Under Ohio law, a supplier (retailer, distributor, or seller) is usually only liable if they were negligent, but they can be treated as a manufacturer in specific situations, such as if the manufacturer cannot be sued in Ohio, or if the supplier marketed the product under its own label or trade name (ORC §2307.78).

Common Types of Dangerous Product Defects

For your product liability claim to succeed in Ohio, your attorney must prove that the product was defective in one of three specific ways. These are the three fundamental claims for a product liability case.

1. Manufacturing Defects

A manufacturing defect occurs when one specific unit, or a limited batch of units, deviates from the original intended design. In other words, the blueprints for the product were safe, but something went wrong on the assembly line, making that one product different and dangerous.

• Definition: The product deviated in a material way from the design specifications, formula, or performance standards of the manufacturer, or from otherwise identical units manufactured to the same specifications.
• Key Legal Point: A manufacturer can be held strictly liable for this type of defect even if they “exercised all possible care” in the construction of the product.
• Example: A tire is designed safely, but during a single manufacturing run, an error causes the adhesive layer binding the tread to be applied incorrectly, leading to a premature tread separation and blowout accident.

2. Design Defects

A design defect is an inherent flaw in the product’s fundamental design or formulation that makes it unreasonably dangerous, even when it is manufactured perfectly and used correctly. Every single item produced from that design is considered defective.

To prove a design defect in Ohio, your attorney must show:

• Risk-Benefit Test: The foreseeable risks associated with the design outweigh the benefits of the design.
• Alternative Design: A practical and technically feasible alternative design was available at the time the product was made that would have prevented the harm without substantially impairing the product’s intended usefulness.
• Example: A child’s toy is designed with small, powerful magnets that can detach easily and cause internal injury if swallowed. A safer, economically practical design (the alternative) exists that uses larger, non-detachable magnets, making the original design defective.

3. Inadequate Warning or Instruction (Marketing Defect)

This type of defect occurs when the manufacturer fails to provide adequate warnings or instructions about a non-obvious risk or hazard associated with the product. The product itself may be perfectly made and safely designed, but it becomes dangerous due to a lack of proper communication.

A product is defective due to an inadequate warning if:

• The manufacturer knew, or should have known through reasonable care, of the risk or hazard.
• The manufacturer failed to provide a warning that a reasonable manufacturer would have provided to the public.
• The lack of a warning made the product unsafe and caused the injury.

Example: A prescription drug is approved by the FDA, but the manufacturer later learns through patient reports that it causes a severe side effect. If the manufacturer fails to promptly and adequately update the warning label to inform doctors and patients of this new, foreseeable risk, they can be held liable.

How to Prove a Product Liability Case: The Elements You Must Establish

The burden of proof for product liability is placed firmly on the injured party. Regardless of the specific type of defect, every successful product liability claim in Ohio must prove these essential elements by a “preponderance of the evidence,” meaning it is more likely than not that they occurred (ORC §2307.73).

Element 1: The Product Was Defective When It Left the Manufacturer

Your claim must prove that the product was defective in one of the three ways defined above (manufacturing, design, or warning) when it left the control of the manufacturer or supplier. This requires a highly technical and detailed investigation, often involving:

• Hiring expert engineers, scientists, and industry professionals to analyze the product and provide testimony.
• Reviewing design specifications, patents, and internal company memos to determine if the manufacturer knew about the danger.
• Inspecting the actual product that caused the injury, known as preserved evidence.

Element 2: The Defect Caused Your Injury (Proximate Causation)

This is the element of proximate causation. You must show a direct link between the defect and the harm you suffered. The defect must be a key factor that directly led to the injury. It is not enough that the product was defective; you must prove the defect is what caused the injury. For instance, if a car’s brake pedal is proven to be defective, but your injury resulted from a separate, rear-end collision, the defect may not be the actual cause of your specific injury.

Element 3: You Suffered Damages (Harm)

The last step is proving that the defective product caused you to suffer actual “harm” or damages. Ohio law defines harm broadly to include injury to a person, damage to property, or wrongful death.

Compensatory damages you can recover generally fall into two categories:

Economic Damages:

These are quantifiable financial losses resulting from the injury:

• Medical bills (past, present, and future).
• Lost wages and lost future earning capacity.
• Rehabilitation costs and home modifications.
• Property damage resulting from the product failure.

Non-economic Damages:

These are non-pecuniary losses related to the physical and emotional toll:

• Pain and suffering.
• Emotional distress and mental anguish.
• Loss of society, consortium, or companionship.
• Loss of enjoyment of life.

Steps to Take After a Product-Related Injury

Your actions immediately following an injury caused by a defective product are critical to the success of your product liability claim. Companies and their insurance carriers will look for any reason to deny your claim, so following these steps can help protect your legal rights.

• Step 1: Seek Immediate Medical Attention. Your health is the priority. Call 911 or get to an emergency room or doctor right away. A lawyer cannot help you recover compensation if you do not have medical records documenting your injury, its severity, and its connection to the incident. Be sure to tell the medical staff exactly what product caused your injury.
• Step 2: Preserve the Defective Product and All Documentation. Do not throw away, fix, or alter the product in any way. This item is the most crucial piece of evidence in your entire case. Your evidence preservation checklist should include:
  • Place the product, its original packaging, instruction manual, and any warning labels in a safe, secure, and untouched location.
  • Keep the original receipt or any proof of purchase.
  • Take detailed, high-resolution photos and videos of the product, the defect, and the scene of the injury.
• Step 3: Document Everything. Keep a written record of the incident and your recovery. This includes:
  • The exact date, time, and location of the injury.
  • The names and contact information for any witnesses.
  • A daily journal detailing your pain, recovery progress, doctor appointments, and how the injury has affected your daily life (your “non-economic losses”).
  • All medical bills, prescription receipts, and insurance paperwork.
• Step 4: Contact a Dayton Product Liability Lawyer. Product liability claims are highly technical. The manufacturer’s lawyers will immediately begin an aggressive defense. You need experienced legal representation quickly to preserve evidence, meet deadlines, and protect your rights. Do not give a recorded statement, sign any forms, or accept a settlement offer until you have spoken to your attorney.

When to File a Claim Against a Manufacturer

Time is a critical factor in every legal case, and Ohio product liability claims are subject to strict deadlines. If you miss these deadlines, you will lose your legal right to pursue compensation, regardless of how strong your evidence is.

The Statute of Limitations (Two-Year Deadline)

Under Ohio Revised Code §2305.10, the general Statute of Limitations for a product liability claim is two years from the date the cause of action accrues.

• For most cases, this means you have two years from the date you were injured to file a lawsuit in court.
• The clock can be different for injuries caused by exposure to toxic chemicals, ethical drugs, or medical devices, where the two-year period may start on the date you are informed by a competent medical authority that you have an injury related to the product or exposure.

The Statute of Repose (Ten-Year Bar)

In addition to the two-year deadline, Ohio law also includes a Statute of Repose. This rule states that generally, no product liability claim can be filed more than ten years from the date the product was first delivered to the consumer (ORC §2305.10(C)(1)).

This ten-year bar can be critical in cases involving older equipment or goods, even if the injury occurs after the ten-year period. However, there are complex exceptions, especially for fraudulent concealment or for certain types of drugs and medical devices. An experienced personal injury attorney in Dayton, OH, will investigate both the date of injury and the date of sale to ensure your claim is not barred.

Punitive Damages and the Burden of Proof

As noted, the burden of proof for compensatory damages is the preponderance of the evidence. However, if the injury was caused because the manufacturer acted with a flagrant disregard of the safety of people who might be harmed by the product, you may be able to seek punitive damages. Punitive damages are not meant to compensate you for your loss but rather to punish the manufacturer for extreme misconduct and deter similar behavior in the future. To win punitive damages, your attorney must meet the much higher burden of clear and convincing evidence.

Common Defenses in an Ohio Product Liability Lawsuit

Manufacturers and their legal teams are highly skilled at defending product liability claims. Their defenses are typically designed to break the “causation” element of your claim or to shift the blame onto you. Knowing these common defenses is a key advantage, and a product liability lawyer in Ohio will be prepared to counter each one.

• Product Misuse or Unforeseeable Use: The manufacturer will argue that you were using the product in a way it was not intended to be used, and that this misuse, not the defect, caused the injury. Your lawyer must prove that your use of the product was either intended or reasonably foreseeable.
• Substantial Modification or Alteration: The defense will claim that you or another party made a significant change to the product after it left the manufacturer’s control, and that this change is what created the defect and caused the injury. If the alteration was minor and did not affect the part of the product that failed, or if the manufacturer could have reasonably foreseen the alteration, this defense may not hold up. This is why preserving the product is so critical.
• Assumption of the Risk: The defense will argue that you knew the product was dangerous, but you chose to use it anyway. Under Ohio law, if it is proven that you expressly or impliedly assumed a known risk, your compensation could be eliminated (ORC §2307.711). The company must prove you had actual knowledge of the specific defect and its danger, and that you voluntarily proceeded in the face of that known risk.
• Comparative Fault: In Ohio, personal injury claims operate under a system of modified comparative fault. The defense will try to argue that your own carelessness or actions contributed to the accident.
  • The Law: If your own fault is determined to be 50 percent or less, your total compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault. If your fault is found to be greater than 50 percent, you are barred from recovering any damages at all (ORC §2315.33). Your attorney will fight aggressively to minimize any suggestion of fault on your part.

Injured by a Faulty Product? Call Attorney Michael Wright in Dayton, OH

When a powerful manufacturer or corporation puts profit over safety, the consequences for consumers can be devastating. Pursuing a product liability claim requires immense legal resources, including expert witnesses, specialized investigators, and a deep knowledge of Ohio’s specific product liability statutes. This is not a fight you should take on alone.

Our personal injury attorneys understand that victims searching for a personal injury attorney in Dayton, OH, are looking for authority, confidence, and compassion. Attorney Michael Wright and his team are committed to leveling the playing field against billion-dollar corporations. We understand the physical, emotional, and financial toll a defective product injury has taken on your life. We serve the entire Miami Valley region, providing aggressive legal representation and compassionate guidance to victims in Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, and throughout Ohio.

Our goal is not just to file a claim; it is to secure the maximum compensation you deserve for your medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. 

Don’t let the statute of limitations expire or the manufacturer destroy the evidence. If you have been injured by a defective or dangerous product, the time to act is now. The strength of your claim rests on prompt investigation and aggressive legal action.

Contact Attorney Michael Wright today by phone at (937) 222-7477 or through our online form for a free, no-obligation case evaluation. We’re ready to put our experience to work and fight for your future.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a product lawyer do?

A product liability lawyer specializes in handling legal claims against manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers for injuries caused by defective or dangerous products. The lawyer’s role is extensive: they investigate the incident, hire specialized engineers and forensic experts to prove the product was defective, identify all potential parties responsible for the injury (the chain of distribution), calculate the full value of the client’s economic and noneconomic damages, and negotiate with or litigate against powerful corporate defense teams and insurance companies to secure maximum compensation for the client. They are essential for navigating complex Ohio Revised Code statutes and court rules.

What are the core elements that must be proven in a product liability claim?

A claimant must generally establish these core components: 

• The defendant manufactured or supplied the product in question.
• The product was defective (in design, manufacture, or warning) when it left the defendant’s control.
• The defective aspect of the product was the direct cause (proximate cause) of the harm.
• The claimant was using the product in an intended or reasonably foreseeable manner.
• The claimant suffered actual harm or damages (medical expenses, lost wages, etc.).

What is an example of a product liability lawsuit?

A common example of a product liability lawsuit in Ohio involves a case against a car manufacturer for a defective component, such as a faulty ignition switch, accelerator pedal, or airbag that fails to deploy. If an ignition switch is proven to be defective and shuts off the engine while driving, causing an accident and subsequent injury, the victim could file a product liability lawsuit alleging a manufacturing or design defect. Other examples include lawsuits over dangerous medical devices like defective hip implants or against pharmaceutical companies for failure to warn about a severe, known side effect of a drug.

How long do product liability cases take?

The length of a product liability case can vary significantly based on its complexity and location in Ohio. A case that settles quickly through negotiation may be resolved in as little as six months to a year. However, if the case involves complex medical or engineering evidence, multiple defendants, or must go through the full litigation process up to a trial in a Dayton or Columbus courthouse, it can take anywhere from two to five years, or sometimes longer.

What is a common defense in a product liability lawsuit?

A very common defense asserted by manufacturers in a product liability lawsuit is Product Misuse or Unforeseeable Use. The defense will argue that the injured person was using the product in a way it was not intended to be used, or that the person substantially modified the product after purchasing it, and that this action, not the product’s defect, was the actual cause of the injury. The defense is trying to shift the blame to reduce or eliminate the manufacturer’s liability.

Who can be sued in a product liability case?

Anyone in the product’s chain of distribution can potentially be sued in an Ohio product liability case. This includes the product’s primary manufacturer, the company that manufactured a defective component part, the wholesaler or distributor that moved the product, and the retailer or store that sold the product to the consumer. Your personal injury lawyer in Dayton will conduct a thorough investigation to identify all liable parties.

How are product liability claims resolved?

Product liability claims are primarily resolved in two ways. The first and most common is through a settlement, where the manufacturer, through negotiation with the injured party’s attorney, agrees to pay a monetary compensation amount out of court. The second way is through a trial verdict. If a fair settlement cannot be reached, the case proceeds to a full trial, where a judge or jury determines the manufacturer’s liability and the final amount of damages to be awarded.