Each year, there are more than 200,000 cases of children getting injured on playground equipment across the United States. When your child is outside playing, cars and roads is not the only things he or she must stay away from, as his or her safety may be threatened even when he/she is on the playground.
While most parents in Los Angeles and elsewhere in California believe that playgrounds are completely safe for their children, it is not entirely true. Sadly, there are plenty of unsafe playground equipment out there that may result in severe injuries, paralysis, disfigurement, disability and even fatality.
Our Los Angeles product liability attorney warns that it is not rare for children to sustain life-threatening injuries on the playground due to unsafe and hazardous playground equipment, particularly climbing equipment. But what can you do if anything happens to your child? Can you sue the manufacturer of the playground equipment?
Before you file a product liability lawsuit…
While California product liability allow you to sue the manufacturer or owner of the playground equipment that caused injuries to your children, there are many factors that must be taken into account before filing a lawsuit.
First of all, proving negligence in a product liability, particularly when it involves something as complex as playground equipment, is no easy task. Second of all, you – as a plaintiff – must be presented by a Los Angeles product liability lawyer in order to establish four elements of a product liability claim:
- You or your child were injured or suffered damages.
- The playground equipment is defective, unsafe, or otherwise dangerous.
- The defect caused injuries.
- You/your child were using the playground equipment as it was intended / instructed / reasonably expected.
How to prove negligence in product liability cases?
And, above all, you must be able to establish liability or fault, proving that the manufacturer or owner of the equipment violated product liability laws, manufactured the equipment in a way that makes it dangerous to users (kids), made a manufacturing error, or failed to provide adequate warnings on how to use the equipment in a way that would avoid injuries or harm.
Our Los Angeles product liability attorney from the Compass Law Group, LLP says that before proving negligence on the part of the manufacturer of the playground equipment, you must prove that the manufacturer owed a duty to users (consumers); and that this duty was breached by the manufacturer’s negligent acts or failure to act.
Product liability and dangerous playground equipment in a nutshell
But litigating product liability cases involving playground equipment may be tricky, as you are required to present evidence that the company that manufactured the equipment in question (1) was aware or (2) should have reasonably been aware of the defect or hazardous condition that caused the injury.
Only an experienced product liability lawyer can help you establish that the manufacturer knew or should have known that the equipment was defective, dangerous, or faulty in some way, or that the way it was manufactured did not comply with standards or regulations for playground equipment.
Many manufacturers in Los Angeles and all across California are usually reluctant to comply with requests to share their internal reports, tests, analysis, and anything that could help you drive your product liability claim in court. Unless, of course, you have a law degree, and can pressure them to unveil such information in order to have evidence that will help you seek damages and obtain compensation for your injuries and losses.
Contact the Compass Law Group, LLP, to speak about your particular case. Let our best product liability attorneys in California investigate your claim and help you collect more evidence of the manufacturer’s liability and fault.
