Pompano Beach Product Liability Lawyer

A product liability claim works differently from every other kind of injury case, and the difference favors the injured person. You do not have to prove a manufacturer was careless. You prove the product was defective and that the defect caused your injury. Jacobson Injury Firm represents people harmed by dangerous products across Broward County.

Attorney Adam Jacobson handles every case personally. Contact us today for a free consultation, and see our broader Pompano Beach personal injury practice for related claims.

Strict Liability Means Carelessness Is Not the Question

Florida adopted strict liability in product cases in 1976, and it changed what a claimant has to prove. In an ordinary negligence claim you must establish that a defendant failed to act reasonably. In a strict product liability claim you do not. A manufacturer that places a defective product into the stream of commerce is responsible for the harm it causes, however careful its processes were.

Liability also runs along the entire distribution chain. Manufacturers, component makers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers can each be defendants, which matters when the manufacturer is overseas, dissolved, or judgment-proof. A claim that would fail against a single defendant frequently succeeds against the chain.

Three kinds of defect support a claim, and each is proven differently.

• Manufacturing defect. The design was sound but this particular unit came off the line wrong. Proof usually comes from comparing the item against the manufacturer’s own specifications, which is why the item itself is essential.
• Design defect. Every unit is dangerous because the design is. Florida courts examine whether the product failed to perform as an ordinary consumer would expect, and whether the risk of the design outweighs its benefit given a safer alternative. This is the most technically demanding claim and the one that requires engineering testimony.
• Failure to warn. The product is not defective in itself but carries a non-obvious risk that was never adequately communicated. Inadequate instructions, missing hazard labels, and warnings buried in fine print all qualify.

The Deadline Has Two Clocks, and One Is Twelve Years

Most people know about the filing deadline. Few know about the second one, and it ends valid claims before anyone is injured. Under Florida Statute 95.031, product liability actions are subject to a statute of repose that generally runs twelve years from the date the product was delivered to its first purchaser. Products with an expected useful life beyond twelve years carry a longer period.

The distinction matters. A statute of limitations runs from the date you were injured. A statute of repose runs from the date the product was sold, whether or not anyone has been hurt yet. A fifteen-year-old appliance that fails today may leave no claim at all against the manufacturer, no matter how clearly defective it was.

The ordinary filing deadline is now two years. Florida shortened negligence claims from four years to two in March 2023 under Florida Statute 95.11, and sources published before that change still refer to four years. Our statute of limitations resource covers how the clock runs, and where a government entity is involved Florida Statute 768.28 adds written pre-suit notice to the agency and the Department of Financial Services.

Compliance With Safety Standards Cuts Both Ways

A Florida provision that shapes these cases and appears on almost nothing a consumer would read first. Florida Statute 768.1256 creates a government rules defense. Where a product complied with the federal or state codes, statutes, and regulations that applied when it was manufactured, there is a rebuttable presumption that it was not defective.

The presumption is rebuttable rather than conclusive, so compliance is a starting position rather than an end to the case. And the statute works in the other direction too: a product that failed to comply with an applicable standard carries a rebuttable presumption that it was defective. Establishing which standards applied at the time of manufacture, and whether the product met them, is therefore early work rather than a detail.

A related provision at Florida Statute 768.1257 directs that a design defect claim be evaluated against the technical and scientific knowledge available when the product left the manufacturer’s control, rather than against what became known later.

Why Choose Jacobson Injury Firm for Your Pompano Beach Product Claim?

Command of the Rules That Decide These Cases

These claims are won on the product itself and on the standards that governed it, which means the work begins with preservation and identification rather than with argument. Florida’s modified comparative fault standard under Florida Statute 768.81 also applies, barring recovery once a claimant carries more than half the blame, and manufacturers routinely argue misuse or modification. Claims arising in Pompano Beach proceed through the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in Broward County.

Demonstrated Results for Injured Clients

The firm has recovered millions of dollars for injured clients. Our client reviews describe how the firm communicates through technical cases that run for a year or more.

No Attorney Fees Unless You Recover

Product claims at the firm run on contingency. We advance the costs these cases require, including engineering analysis, testing, and expert testimony, which are substantial. Nothing is owed at the outset and no recovery means no fee.

Key Components of a Pompano Beach Product Liability Claim

Do Not Let Go of the Product

This single step decides more product cases than any legal argument. The item is the evidence. Once it is thrown away in cleanup, returned to a retailer for a refund, repaired, or handed to an insurer for testing, the claim usually goes with it. Keep it exactly as it is, along with its packaging, manuals, receipt, and any replacement parts. Photograph model and serial numbers before anything else, since those identify the manufacturing run and connect the item to any recall. Preserving this evidence is the first thing we address on a new file.

Identifying Every Party in the Chain

Serial numbers, date codes, and importer markings establish who made the product, who imported it, who distributed it, and who sold it. That identification work determines whether there is a solvent defendant, and it frequently produces several. Where a product was sold through a marketplace or an importer, liability analysis can reach parties a consumer never dealt with directly.

Recalls Help, But They Are Not the Case

A recall is strong evidence that a hazard existed and that the manufacturer knew about it, and recall records are searchable through the Consumer Product Safety Commission, NHTSA for vehicles, the FDA for drugs and devices, and the Coast Guard for boats and marine equipment. A recall does not establish liability on its own, and the absence of one does not defeat a claim. Many defective products are never recalled at all.

Answering Misuse and Modification

Expect the argument that you used the product in a way it was not intended for, or that someone altered it. Neither automatically ends a claim. A manufacturer must account for reasonably foreseeable misuse, and the question is whether the use was foreseeable rather than whether it matched the manual exactly. Where a modification is alleged, establishing the product’s condition at the time of sale is what answers it, which is another reason the item matters so much.

Calculating Damages

Damages cover medical costs, future care, lost wages, diminished earning capacity, pain, disfigurement, and loss of life enjoyment. Where a manufacturer knew of a hazard and sold the product anyway, punitive damages may be available under Florida Statute 768.72, which requires a court to find a reasonable evidentiary basis before the claim can be pleaded. Florida Statute 768.0427 also rewrote how medical damages are proven and required disclosure of letters of protection.

“Excellent service and results. Attorney Jacobson was professional, responsive, and truly cared about my case. They explained everything clearly and delivered great results.”

Isaac M.

Product Liability Claims We Handle

Vehicle and Auto Part Defects

Defective airbags, seat belts, brakes, steering components, tires, and fuel systems. A defect can cause a crash or worsen the injuries in one that would otherwise have been survivable, and both support a claim alongside the ordinary car accident case. Motorcycle and bicycle component failures follow the same path.

Lithium-Ion Battery Fires

E-bikes, scooters, phones, tool packs, and hoverboards have become one of the fastest-growing sources of severe residential fires. These claims run against manufacturers, importers, and retailers, and they frequently overlap with our burn injury practice.

Household Appliances and Electronics

Water heaters, space heaters, dryers, pressure cookers, and wiring faults. Scald injuries, fires, and electrical shock follow from design and manufacturing failures that a consumer has no way to detect.

Tools, Machinery, and Industrial Equipment

Missing guards, defective safety interlocks, failed lifts and harnesses, and collapsed scaffolding. Where the injury happened at work, the product claim proceeds independently of workers compensation, which our construction accident page explains.

Medical Devices and Pharmaceuticals

Defective implants, surgical mesh, and drugs with inadequate warnings. These claims carry an added complication: federal approval status can preempt certain state law claims, particularly for devices that went through premarket approval. That analysis has to happen before anything else, and it sits alongside our medical malpractice practice where treatment error is also involved.

Children’s Products and Toys

Cribs, car seats, strollers, and toys with choking or strangulation hazards. Children’s products are subject to stricter federal standards, which makes a compliance failure particularly significant under the government rules provision above.

Food Contamination and Chemical Exposure

Contaminated food, mislabeled allergens, and exposure to toxic substances in consumer goods. Where a defective product causes life-altering harm our catastrophic injury practice applies, and where it proves fatal our wrongful death practice does. See all practice areas.

Product Injuries in Pompano Beach

Local conditions influence which products fail here. Salt air and humidity accelerate corrosion in marine equipment, outdoor appliances, and electrical components, and failures that would take a decade inland arrive sooner. The marina and boatyard activity along the Intracoastal and Hillsboro Inlet brings vessel and engine component claims. Warehouse and distribution operations along Powerline Road and Copans Road involve industrial machinery and lift equipment. The dense apartment and condominium stock concentrates appliance and battery fire risk in buildings where one unit’s failure reaches many residents. The City of Pompano Beach and Broward County investigate incidents involving public facilities, where the government notice requirements described above apply.

What to Do After a Defective Product Injury

• Keep the product. Do not return it, repair it, discard it, or give it to an insurer. Retailers offer refunds and insurers ask to take items for testing, and either one can end the claim.
• Photograph the product including model and serial numbers, the packaging, and any labels or warnings, before anything is moved or cleaned up.
• Keep the box, the manual, the receipt, and any replacement or spare parts. Purchase records establish the delivery date, which determines whether the repose period has run.
• Get medical attention and make sure the record reflects how the injury happened and what product was involved.
• Write down who else was present and whether anyone witnessed the failure, and check whether a recall exists through the CPSC or NHTSA.
• Decline a recorded statement to any insurer or manufacturer representative until you have spoken with a lawyer, and follow your treatment plan without gaps, since gaps become causation arguments later in the case timeline. See our guide to insurance companies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to prove the manufacturer was careless?

No, and this is the central advantage of a product claim. Florida applies strict liability, so you establish that the product was defective and that the defect caused your injury. How careful the manufacturer’s processes were is not the question.

How long do I have to file a product liability claim in Florida?

Two years from the date of injury for most claims, shortened from four years in March 2023. A separate restriction also applies: a statute of repose that generally runs twelve years from delivery of the product to its first purchaser, independent of when you were hurt. An older product can leave no claim at all.

What is the difference between a statute of limitations and a statute of repose?

The limitations period runs from the date you were injured. The repose period runs from the date the product was sold, whether or not anyone has been hurt yet. That means a claim can expire before an injury ever happens, which is why the purchase date matters as much as the injury date.

Why does keeping the product matter so much?

Because it is the evidence. A manufacturing defect is proven by comparing the item against the manufacturer’s specifications, and a design defect is proven through engineering examination of the item itself. Once it is discarded, returned, repaired, or handed to an insurer, a strong claim frequently becomes unprovable.

Does a recall mean I automatically win?

No. A recall is powerful evidence that a hazard existed and that the manufacturer knew, but liability still has to be proven. The reverse is also true: the absence of a recall does not defeat a claim, and many defective products are never recalled.

What if the product met all safety standards?

Florida gives a product that complied with the applicable codes and regulations a rebuttable presumption that it was not defective. Rebuttable means it can be overcome, and compliance with a minimum standard does not establish that a design was reasonably safe. The provision also works in reverse, since a product that failed to comply carries a presumption that it was defective.

Can I sue the store rather than the manufacturer?

Often yes. Liability in Florida can extend along the whole distribution chain, including distributors, wholesalers, and retailers. This matters when the manufacturer is overseas, dissolved, or has no assets, and it is one reason identifying every party early is important.

What if I was using the product in a way the manual did not describe?

That is not automatically fatal to a claim. A manufacturer must account for reasonably foreseeable misuse, so the question is whether your use was foreseeable rather than whether it matched the instructions exactly.

Can I recover punitive damages?

Sometimes. Where a manufacturer knew of a hazard and continued selling the product, punitive damages may be available, but Florida requires a court to find a reasonable evidentiary basis before the claim can even be pleaded. Internal documents obtained in discovery are usually what supports it.

How much does a product liability lawyer cost?

Our firm works on a contingency fee, so nothing is owed at the outset. These cases carry significant costs for engineering analysis, testing, and expert testimony, and we advance them. If there is no recovery, no attorney fee is owed and the consultation is free.

Speak With a Pompano Beach Product Liability Lawyer

The product that injured you is the case, and it is usually gone within days, cleared out with the debris, returned for a refund, or collected by an insurer. Reaching out early is what preserves it, and it also establishes the purchase date that determines whether the repose period has run. Consultations are free and you pay nothing unless we recover for you. Call (561) 567-7163 or send us a message. The firm also serves Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, and West Palm Beach, with the full list on our areas we serve page and further reading in our personal injury resources and blog.