Many Illinois defective children’s products attorneys are parents themselves.  They understand that most parents do their best to provide their children with safe toys and equipment.  They also understand the anger and physical pain that can occur when a product that is supposed to be safe for your children actually hurts them.

Which Children’s Products Have Been Recalled

The most reliable source for information about recalled baby items is the US Consumer Product Safety Commission website.  The CPSC maintains a list of toy recalls and other infant / child product recalls.  While the information put out by the CPSC is useful for parents, it is unrealistic to expect parents to check the CPSC website prior to every purchase of a toy, food, bedding, clothing and piece of safety equipment.  Instead, parents put their faith into manufacturers and retailers.  They trust that manufacturers will only sell safe products and they trust that retailers will only stock items that meet CPSC guidelines and that are not subject to recall.

You May Have a Products Liability Claim against the Manufacturer

A products liability claim may be brought against the manufacturer of the defective children’s product if there was as problem with the product’s design, labeling, warning or with the product itself.  In order to succeed in a products liability claim, the parent must prove that:

  1. The product was in an unreasonably dangerous condition at the time that it left control of the manufacturer; and
  2. That unreasonably dangerous condition caused your child to sustain injuries.

You May Have a Negligence Claim Against the Retailer

Other parties may also be at fault.  For example, if a retailer sells a product that has been tampered with or is otherwise obviously unsafe then you may have a claim against the retailer for negligence.  In order to prove that a retailer was negligent, you must prove that:

  1. The retailer owed you a duty of care.  Retailers generally owe a duty of care to their customers.
  2. The retailer breached that duty of care by failing to act like a reasonable retailer would have acted given similar circumstances.  In other words, you may have to prove that other reasonable retailers in the area would have known about a recall or a product that had been tampered with and removed it from the shelf.
  3. The retailer’s actions were the proximate legal cause of the child’s injuries.  It must be the retailer’s actions and not the actions of the manufacturer, of the child’s caregiver or of anyone else that caused the child’s injuries.
  4. The child is entitled to damages as a matter of law.

Hiring an Illinois Products Liability Attorney

It is important to seek the advice of an Illinois defective children’s product attorney soon after your child is hurt by a defective product.  Product liability laws limit the time that you have to file a lawsuit.  An experienced Illinois products liability attorney will be sensitive to the needs of your family and always put your interests first when litigating or negotiating a settlement on your behalf.

Dolan Law Offices represents children who hurt by defective children’s products throughout Illinois and the greater Chicagoland area, including Cook County, DuPage County, Lake County, McHenry County, and Will County, and the towns of Aurora, Addison, Chicago Heights, Joliet, Hillsdale, Plainfield, Rolling Meadows, Des Plains, Schaumburg, Palatine, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, Hanover Park, Streamwood, Prospect Heights, Wheeling, Wheaton, Waukegan, Inverness, Barrington, Buffalo Grove, Elgin, Bartlett, Itasca, Bloomingdale and Oak Park.

Please contact us today for a free consultation.  The Chicago defective children’s products attorneys of Dolan Law Offices will not collect a fee from you unless your case results in a monetary verdict or settlement.