If you’re wondering what to do after a spinal injury caused by faulty safety equipment, it’s important to know that you may have legal options. Such injuries often happen when helmets, harnesses, protective gear, or other critical equipment fail due to poor design, manufacturing defects, or lack of proper maintenance. Victims of a spinal injury caused by faulty safety equipment can pursue a product liability claim against manufacturers, distributors, or even employers who provided defective gear. By proving the equipment’s defect directly contributed to your spinal injury, you could recover compensation for medical bills, lost income, rehabilitation costs, and long-term care needs.
This naturally leads to an important question for those affected. Can you sue for a spinal injury caused by faulty safety equipment? The simple answer is yes.
When a product designed for safety fails and causes you harm, you may have a legal claim against the companies responsible for putting that dangerous product into the world. This process involves identifying who is at fault and demonstrating how their defective product led to your life-altering injury.
Who is Responsible for a Faulty Equipment Injury?
Identifying who is at fault after an injury caused by failed safety gear is complicated. Liability does not always rest with a single person or company.
Instead, responsibility can lie anywhere along the product’s journey from concept to consumer. This journey is often called the “chain of distribution.”
A lawyer investigates every link in this chain to find all parties who may have contributed to the product’s failure. This ensures that you seek compensation from every entity involved in your injury.
The fault could stem from poor design or an error on the factory floor. It might involve a company that failed to warn about the product’s limitations properly.
Identifying all responsible parties is a foundational step in building a strong legal case for your spinal cord injury.
Several different entities could be held liable for your injury.
These can include:
- The Product Manufacturer: The company that physically built the safety equipment. They are responsible if an error during assembly or the use of weak materials caused the defect.
- The Product Designer: An engineering firm or individual designer may be liable if the product’s initial design was inherently unsafe, meaning every item made from that design is dangerous.
- The Wholesaler or Distributor: These middlemen move products from the factory to retail stores. As part of the chain of distribution, they can be held responsible.
- The Retailer: The store or online business that sold you or your employer the faulty equipment can also be a defendant in a product liability lawsuit.
- A Maintenance Company: If a third-party company was hired to inspect, maintain, or repair the safety equipment and did so improperly, they could be held liable for its failure.
Product Liability Claims
A product liability claim is a legal action based on a defective product. These claims hold companies accountable for creating and selling products that cause harm to consumers.
Product liability law protects consumers who might not realize a safety harness, vehicle airbag, or guardrail is defective until after it causes harm. These preventable hazards share similarities with never events in medical malpractice—serious, avoidable errors that can cause life-altering injuries.
This area of law is designed to protect consumers who may not know that a safety harness, a vehicle airbag, or a guardrail is defective until it is too late.
In many product liability cases, you do not need to prove that the company was intentionally careless or negligent.
Under a legal principle called “strict liability,” if you can prove that the product had a defect that made it unreasonably dangerous and caused your injury, the manufacturer or seller can be held responsible.
This allows injured people to seek justice without needing to know the specific internal workings or decisions of a large corporation. The focus is on the condition of the product, not the company’s behavior.
Three main types of defects can form the basis of a product liability claim.
- Design Defects
A design defect means the product is dangerous because its core design is flawed. The problem is not with just one faulty item but with the entire product line. Every single product made according to that design poses a threat to the user. An example would be a safety helmet designed with a shell that is too thin to withstand a foreseeable impact or a car seatbelt that is designed to unlatch under common collision forces. - Manufacturing Defects
A manufacturing defect occurs when a safe design is compromised by an error during the production process. Most products made on the assembly line are perfectly fine, but a mistake makes a specific item or batch dangerous. This could be a safety rope that was woven incorrectly, a metal carabiner with a hidden crack from the forging process, or a batch of airbags with faulty inflator mechanisms. - Marketing Defects (Failure to Warn)
A marketing defect happens when a product is sold without sufficient instructions, labels, or warnings about its proper use and potential dangers. The product itself might be designed and manufactured correctly, but it is dangerous because the user is not given the information needed to use it safely. Examples include a ladder that does not list its maximum weight capacity or a chemical product sold without clear warnings about its toxic properties.
Compensation and Spinal Injury Cases
Spinal cord injuries are among the most devastating injuries a person can suffer. Unlike a broken bone that heals, a damaged spinal cord often leads to permanent consequences.
These injuries can cause chronic pain, loss of sensation, respiratory problems, and paralysis, such as paraplegia or quadriplegia. The damage fundamentally changes a person’s ability to work, participate in hobbies, and perform daily tasks.
These injuries can cause chronic pain, loss of sensation, respiratory problems, and paralysis, such as paraplegia or quadriplegia. The damage fundamentally changes a person’s ability to work, participate in hobbies, and perform daily tasks. To learn more about these medical impacts, visit the NINDS page on spinal cord injury.
Calculating these and future costs requires careful analysis to ensure the injured person has the financial resources they will need for the rest of their life.
Economic Damages
These damages are direct, calculable financial losses resulting from the spinal injury. They are meant to restore the money you have lost and will lose because of the harm you suffered. This includes all past, present, and future medical expenses, such as surgeries, hospitalization, rehabilitation, and prescription medications.
Non-Economic Damages
These damages compensate you for the profound, non-financial ways the spinal injury has affected your life. While no amount of money can undo the harm, these damages acknowledge the immense personal suffering involved. This category includes compensation for physical pain, mental anguish, and emotional distress.
Punitive Damages
In some rare cases, punitive damages are awarded. These are not meant to compensate you for a loss. Instead, they are designed to punish the defendant for extremely reckless or intentional misconduct. You can learn more about how punitive damages work from this resource on punitive damages.
What Steps Should You Take After the Injury?
Preserve any evidence related to the accident. In a case involving faulty equipment, the product itself is the single most important piece of evidence. Insurance companies for the manufacturer may try to get ahold of the product to test it themselves, but you should not let that happen.
Documenting the scene and your injuries is also a key step in building a strong foundation for your case.
Proving Your Case in Court
To win a product liability lawsuit, you and your lawyer must prove your case. The legal standard for this is known as a preponderance of the evidence. This means you must show that it is more likely than not that your version of events is true.
You are not required to prove your case beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the standard used in criminal cases. You will use evidence like the defective product, your medical records, witness statements, and reports from qualified professionals to build a convincing argument.
To win a product liability lawsuit, you and your lawyer must prove that your version of events is more likely true than not. This is called the “preponderance of the evidence” standard. You’ll need solid proof—such as expert analysis, medical records, and physical evidence to support your claim. For a closer look at how attorneys build strong legal cases, visit our page on what to expect when working with an injury lawyer.
Each element must be carefully established with clear and compelling evidence.
You must prove several core elements to hold a company liable for your injuries.
- The Product Was Defective: You have to prove the existence of a design, manufacturing, or marketing defect that made the safety equipment unreasonably dangerous.
- The Defect Existed When It Left the Defendant’s Control: You must show that the product was already defective when it was sold and was not damaged or altered later in a way that caused it to fail.
- You Were Using the Product as Intended: You must demonstrate you were using the safety equipment in a manner that the manufacturer would reasonably expect. For example, you were wearing a seatbelt while driving, not using it as a tow rope.
- The Defective Product Caused Your Injury: This is a crucial link. You must prove that the product’s failure was a direct and primary cause of your spinal injury. You must show that if the equipment had worked properly, you would not have been hurt or your injuries would have been far less severe.
- You Suffered Damages: You must provide evidence of your losses. This includes medical bills, proof of lost income, and documentation of your pain and suffering.
Common Defenses in Faulty Equipment Cases
When you file a lawsuit against a company, you can expect them to mount a strong defense. Large corporations have legal teams dedicated to minimizing their financial responsibility. They will closely examine every aspect of your case to find weaknesses or to try and shift the blame away from their product. Anticipating these defense strategies is a key part of preparing a successful product liability claim for a spinal injury.
To better understand how companies defend against civil claims, including product defect lawsuits, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division provides insight into defense strategies and the civil litigation process.
Product Misuse
One of the most common defenses is to claim that you were misusing the product when the accident occurred. The company will argue that their product is safe when used correctly, but you used it in an unforeseeable way.
For example, if you used a ladder rated for 200 pounds while carrying 300 pounds of material, the manufacturer would argue that this misuse—not a defect—caused the ladder to break. This type of argument is also seen in injury claims involving medical tools, such as forceps or vacuum extraction injuries during birth, where proper use is a central issue.
Substantial Alteration
A defendant may also argue that their product was safe when it left their factory but was substantially altered or modified by you or someone else before the accident.
They will claim this later alteration is what caused the equipment to fail. For instance, if you drilled holes in a safety helmet to attach a camera mount, the manufacturer might argue that those holes weakened the helmet’s structure and led to its failure.
Assumption of Risk
In some situations, a company might use the “assumption of risk” defense. They would need to prove that you knew about the specific defect or danger associated with the product but voluntarily chose to use it anyway.
This defense is often difficult for them to prove, especially if the defect was hidden and not obvious to a reasonable person. You cannot assume a risk that you do not know exists.
Legal Solutions Are Just a Call Away
A spinal injury from faulty safety equipment is a life-changing event. Pursuing a legal claim can seem like another heavy burden during an already difficult time.
However, holding a negligent company accountable can provide the financial resources necessary for a lifetime of care and can bring a measure of justice for the harm you have endured.
The attorneys at Lorenz & Lorenz, PLLC, are dedicated to helping people who have been harmed. For a free consultation to discuss your situation, contact us or call Lorenz & Lorenz, PLLC, at (512) 477-7333.
Frequently Asked Question
Yes. If your spinal injury resulted from defective or poorly designed safety equipment, you may have the right to file a product liability lawsuit against the manufacturer, distributor, or other responsible parties.
Multiple parties could share responsibility, including the product’s designer, manufacturer, supplier, or even the employer who failed to maintain or replace faulty equipment.
You may seek compensation for medical expenses, rehabilitation costs, lost income, pain and suffering, and long-term disability caused by the spinal injury.
Proving your case typically requires expert testimony, product testing results, maintenance records, and medical documentation showing the link between the equipment failure and your injury.
Yes. Every state has a statute of limitations that sets a deadline for filing a product liability claim. It’s best to consult an experienced injury lawyer promptly to protect your rights.