Pennsylvania Drug Defect Lawyer Drugs and medicines are a frequent subject of products liability suits. Pharmaceutical Manufacturers have a duty to properly test the drugs and medicines before releasing them into the market. The United States Food and Drug Administration provides these drug companies with the necessary testing criteria or “industry standards.”  However, the fact that a drug was properly licensed by the FDA has no effect on the manufacturer's liability to an injured plaintiff, if the drug proves to be otherwise defective. As with almost all medical products, with the exception of over-the-counter drugs, there will usually be a "learned intermediary" (someone with medical knowledge) between a drug's manufacturer or pharmaceutical company and the ultimate user. This intermediary can be the drug prescribing doctor or physician, nurses who instruct the patient on proper use, or the pharmacist who fills the prescription. Often the lines of liability are blurry, therefore you should consult with a lawyer at My Civil Attorney to help determine who may be at fault for the injuries you or a loved one have suffered. A defective drug could be defined as ‘a drug whose potential risks outweigh its intended benefit.’ However, the mere fact that a drug possesses serious dangers does not always mean it will be recalled or taken off the market. Instead, drug companies may just add a warning to labeling, allowing the drug to continue to be sold to unsuspecting patients. Unavoidably Unsafe Products There are prescription drugs may be considered "unavoidably unsafe" products. This means that they cannot be made completely safe no matter how carefully they are manufactured.  These drugs may have potentially harmful side effects, but may be beneficial to the user nonetheless.  If such drugs are properly prepared and come with adequate warnings, they usually cannot form the basis of a successful products liability lawsuit. Drug Manufacturer Duty to Warn A drug manufacturer has a duty to warn of any known side effects of a drug based on testing, but is not expected to warn of unknown dangers. Most manufacturers discharge this responsibility by providing the necessary information to the patient's prescribing physician or to the pharmacist. The drug manufacturer is considered an expert in its field, and therefore has a continuing duty to stay up to date on medical knowledge regarding its products and take all reasonable steps to update medical professionals on potential adverse effects of the drug. There is no duty to warn of possible reactions in unusually susceptible consumers, however, just because a reaction is rare or unusual does not mean the manufacturer has no duty to warn about it or that the persons experiencing the reaction are unusually susceptible. Time Lapse Issues May Be Problematic Often times in drug-related injury cases, the plaintiff will not be able to identify the precise manufacturer or supplier of the defective product because so much time has elapsed that the evidence is no longer available. An example would be cases involving drugs ingested during pregnancy. In those cases, damages may not become apparent until years later when the children are grown. Asbestos-exposure cases are another example of the time lapse problem. In such cases, a variety of theories are available to shift the burden to the potential defendants to prove that they could not be responsible, or to allocate the damages among a number of potentially liable manufacturers. The FDA often fails to conduct sufficient research on drug products or devotes less than adequate time to perform a thorough screening of drug products. This inevitably leads to the approval of dangerous and defective drugs to the market. If you have been injured as a result of a defective drug, your best defense is to retain the services of a lawyer at My Civil Attorney. We represent victims in drug liability actions against pharmaceutical companies in which we demand both compensation and potentially punitive damages for our injured clients.

Pennsylvania Products Liability Lawyer Product Liability could be defined as ‘The responsibility of a manufacturer or vendor of goods to compensate for injuries caused by defective merchandise that it has put on the market.’ In the United States, product liability litigation has grown rapidly and has been viewed as an effective tool for consumer protection. The law has changed from caveat emptor ("buyer beware") to strict liability (seller is responsible for all defective items that unreasonably threaten the personal safety of consumers or their property, for manufacturing defects that make products unreasonably dangerous). Theories of Liability In the majority of jurisdictions, a plaintiff's cause of action may be based on one or more of four theories: Negligence, Breach of Warranty, Misrepresentation, and Strict Liability. Negligence refers to the absence of, or failure to exercise, proper or ordinary care. It means that an individual who had a legal obligation either did not do what should have been done or did something that should not have been done. A manufacturer can be held liable for negligence if lack of reasonable care in  production, design, or assembly of the manufacturer's product caused harm. (i.e. a company might be found negligent if its employees did not perform their work properly or management allowed improper procedures and an unsafe product was created.) Breach of warranty is the failure of a seller to fulfill the terms of a promise, claim, or representation made concerning the quality or type of product. The law assumes that a seller gives certain warranties concerning goods that are sold and that he or she must stand behind those assertions. Misrepresentation in advertisement and sales promotions of a product refers to the process of giving consumers false security about the safety of a product, usually by diverting attention away from the hazards and risks of the product use. An action lies in the intentional concealment of potential hazards or in negligent misrepresentation. The key to recovery on the basis of misrepresentation is the plaintiff's ability to prove that he or she relied upon the representations that were made about the product. Strict liability involves extending the responsibility of the vendor or manufacturer to all individuals who might be injured by the product, even in the absence of fault. Injured guests, bystanders, or others with no direct relationship to the product may sue for damages caused by the product. The injured party must prove that the item was defective, the defect proximately caused the injury, and the defect rendered the product unreasonably dangerous.   Defective Product Injury Children are frequently the victims of product defects.  Dangerous defects in toys, products with insufficient safety parts and furniture with faulty design can cause burns, limb disfigurement, broken bones and choking hazards. The food industry has also been hit hard in recent years with recalls of meat, dairy and nut products due to salmonella, ecoli and other diseases that threaten the general health and welfare of consumers. Toyota tops 2010's list of notable dangerous product recalls. Models such as RAV4, Corolla, Matrix, Avalon, Camry, Highlander, Tundra, and Sequoia have been recalled due to sticking accelerator pedal problems.  Such defects can lead to extremely dangerous accidents and injury. Product liability actions are typically very complex, and establishing legal fault often requires the testimony of experts. There are several theories under which a plaintiff might bring a claim, and several defenses that might defeat such a claim. Each state has its own laws and statutes that will affect a product liability action. Therefore, you should contact a lawyer at My Civil Attorney to discuss the injuries that you or a loved one have suffered as a result of unreasonably dangerous or defective products being sold to you.

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Montgomery County, PA	Bucks County, PA	Delaware County, PA	Chester County, PA
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Wildwood, NJ	Hatfield, PA	Langhorne, PA	Chadds Ford, PA	West Vincent, PA
Cape May, NJ	Lower Merion, PA	Yardley, PA	Tinicum, PA	Charlestown, PA

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