Legal Options If Your Child Is Injured by a Christmas Toy

Christmas is a time for family and joy. The reaction on your little one’s face when he or she sees the presents wrapped nicely under the tree and opens a new toy delivered straight from Santa makes it all worthwhile.

Too often, though, young children are injured by defective and harmful toys, turning a wonderful holiday celebration into a nightmare. As a parent, what can you do if your child was injured by a toy you bought for Christmas? Under New Jersey’s product liability laws, you can file a lawsuit against the manufacturer seeking damages related to your child’s injury.

Here is some helpful information if your child has been injured by a toy in New Jersey.

Do I Have a Good Product Liability Case?

Product liability laws are clearly written in New Jersey, but winning a product liability lawsuit is complicated. To win your case, you have to prove that the toy was not reasonably fit, suitable or safe for its intended purposes due to one of three factors:

It has a manufacturing defect
It failed to contain adequate warnings or instructions
It was designed in a defective manner

You must be able to prove that the toy was the direct cause of your child’s injury and that your child was injured as a result of one of the above reasons.

Manufacturing Defects

This is the most common area of product liability cases. You must be able to prove that your child was injured because the toy had a defect in the manufacturing process. For example, you could have a manufacturing defect case if a toy gets unreasonably hot and burned your child because of a defect near the battery compartment.

Failure to Warn or Provide Instructions

This type of case is brought when a product doesn’t contain reasonably sufficient instructions or warnings. The case you might bring could claim the manufacturer knew that there was a dangerous aspect of the toy but did not disclose that information to the consumer. This is seen a lot with drug side effects, for example.

Design Defects

This type of case would claim that the design of the toy itself is defective and, as a result, caused an injury to your child. This might occur if a figurine had small legs and arms that popped off easily, either exposing a sharp, jagged edge underneath or creating a choking hazard for small children.

Contact a Product Liability Expert

Product liability cases in New Jersey are very complex and can involve multiple third parties. If your child has been injured by a Christmas toy, you should immediately seek out an experienced attorney who can help guide you through your options. Get a free consultation with the Rosner Law Office, P.C. by calling (856) 502-1655

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