When a medical professional recommends or prescribes a drug, it is natural to assume that the medication is safe. Sadly, people suffer severe side-effects and injuries because a legal drug they took was harmful to them. Experienced personal injury attorneys like David E. Gordon frequently bring lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, seeking damages for their clients who were harmed by medications.
Some drugs are rushed to market without adequate testing, while some drugs are safe for some people but not others. If a medication has affected you adversely, consulting a Cordova dangerous drugs lawyer as soon as possible after learning of the injury is a smart thing to do.
Potential Defendants in Dangerous Drugs Cases
Liability for putting a harmful medication into the marketplace is not limited to the pharmaceutical manufacturers. Depending on the particulars of a case, injured people can make a claim against anyone involved in putting the drug in their hands if they can prove that the party was negligent.
The medical professional who prescribed the drug or the pharmacist who filled the prescription might be liable in this scenario. Liability could rest with a negligent distributor, seller, or shipping company. A Cordova hazardous drug lawyer can identify all the potentially liable parties who might be brought into a lawsuit.
Does Strict Liability Apply to Drug Manufacturers?
If a medication injures someone, the manufacturer is strictly liable for damages. Strict liability means that the injured person does not need to prove that the manufacturer was negligent. If the plaintiff can demonstrate that a product was unreasonably dangerous to him or her, the manufacturer is liable regardless of negligence.
Although proof of negligence is not necessary, the client and their lawyer must prove that the product was unreasonably dangerous when it left the manufacturer’s control. There must be proof that:
- The drug’s design rendered it dangerous to all people or to a certain class of people
- There was a manufacturing defect that made a particular batch or dose of the drug harmful
- The warning labels were inadequate to allow a consumer to evaluate the risk of the drug, or the drug’s marketing misrepresented its effects
An injured person only needs to prove a defect in one of these processes—design, manufacturing, or labeling/marketing. However, a local dangerous drugs attorney can often find evidence of defects in more than one of these processes and could assert multiple allegations of strict liability.
Defenses to a Strict Liability Claim
Tennessee law says that a manufacturer is not liable unless the drug that injured the client was in the same condition as when it left the manufacturer’s control. It also holds a manufacturer to the standards that existed when the medication was produced, not those prevailing when the person was injured.
Manufacturers are not liable for conditions that a reasonable consumer might expect to encounter. If the drug’s side effect was predictable and acceptable given the condition that it treats, or the warnings on the label effectively communicated the specific danger in a way that a reasonable consumer could understand, then a manufacturer might escape liability. David can analyze the medication’s label to determine whether it provided an adequate warning.
Pursue Compensation with a Cordova Dangerous Drugs Attorney
Pharmaceutical companies are known for vigorously defending claims made against them. Successfully holding them accountable requires help from an assertive advocate like the Law Office of David E. Gordon. Enhance your chances of getting fair compensation by talking to a Cordova dangerous drug lawyer as soon as you become aware of your injury.
