When you buy a product, you have a right to expect that it won't hurt you.

That the car you drive was designed with your safety in mind, that the heated blanket was properly tested, that the power tool from the hardware store won't malfunction in a way that takes your finger off. Manufacturers, designers, and distributors have a legal duty to make sure the products they put into the market are reasonably safe, and when they cut corners on testing, design a product with a known flaw, or fail to warn consumers about dangers they know exist, they are responsible for every injury that follows.

Three Theories Under Texas Law

The Texas Products Liability Act (TPLA) provides three paths to recovery. Manufacturing defect claims apply when a specific product deviated from its intended design, something went wrong on the assembly line and the unit you received was more dangerous than it was supposed to be. Under Texas law, manufacturing defects are subject to strict liability, which means you don't have to prove the manufacturer was negligent. You prove the product was defective and the defect caused your injury.

Design defect claims apply when the entire product line carries the same flaw, the same risk, the same potential to hurt someone. Texas uses a risk-utility test: was there a safer alternative design that was economically and technologically feasible? If the answer is yes and the manufacturer chose the more dangerous path anyway, that's the defect.

Failure to warn claims apply when a product is dangerous in certain ways and the manufacturer knew or should have known, but didn't provide adequate warnings or instructions. If a proper warning would have prevented your injury, the failure to include it is the basis for your claim.

Product liability cases sometimes mean going up against large corporations with deep pockets and teams of defense lawyers. We prepare for that fight the same way I prepare for every case that matters: with engineers, safety consultants, medical experts, and the kind of thorough, disciplined preparation that makes the other side take the case seriously from the start.