The Law Offices of Sherry P. Broder believes when products injure a person, enforcement of manufacturers’ legal accountability to consumers helps make products safer and better for all of us.

Under Hawaii law, there are three legal areas in which a manufacturer may be liable for injury or death caused by a defective product:

1. Negligence

A manufacturer may be liable for injury or death caused by failure to exercise ordinary care in any of several ways, including:

• Negligent design;
• Failure to adequately test and inspect;
• Failure to provide adequate instructions, warnings, and/or labels;
• Failure to issue an adequate recall notice; and
• Strict Liability. If a product is defective, the manufacturer may be held liable for resulting injury or damage, even without proof of negligence.

2. Strict Liability

The manufacturer of any personal property sold as new property directly or through a dealer or any other person may be liable to a person who suffers an injury to their person or property.

3. Implied Warranties

• Implied warranty of merchantability. The product must be fit for purposes intended by the seller; and
• Implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. The product must be fit for the buyer's intended use which was known to the seller.

For product liability cases, the Law Offices of Sherry P. Broder selects the best experts to analyze defective products to fight for the rights of our clients.

Results

In 1986 Ms. Broder negotiated a $4 million settlement for consumers when unlawful levels of the pesticide heptachlor were found in Hawaii commercial milk supplies. Sherry Broder achieved the setting of new standards of purity for milk maintained by the industry, and with the settlement funds established a non-profit corporation to study the health effects of exposure to the pesticide.