Firefighter Product Liability Lawyer in NYC
While many firefighter injuries are attributable to the considerable hazards of the job or to negligence on the part of crew members, residents, and property owners, some injuries can be proven to have been caused by a failure of the very equipment upon which the firefighters depend to keep them safe. Without personal protective equipment, self-contained breathing apparatus, helmets, gloves, ropes, and other gear, the task of fighting blazes in New York would be far more difficult and, in many cases, impossible. If your injury or the death of a loved one in the line of duty was caused by inherent design flaws or defects in the safety gear or equipment that was used at the time of the incident, you may be entitled to recover monetary damages for your losses.
Under the legal principle of product liability, a manufacturer can be held accountable for producing and selling products that cause injury. Provided the product was being used in the way it was intended, it is generally possible to sue for compensation for injuries or wrongful death resulting from hazards posed by the product. A defective product claim can be based on flaws in the design, negligence in the choice of material, manufacturing defects, and misleading or deceptive labeling and marketing of a product. An attorney from The Law Office of Richard M. Kenny is ready to meet with you to review the situation and help you ascertain whether you have grounds for legal action against the manufacturer. If successful, you could receive a settlement or award of damages for all of your medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering.
Statistics About Equipment Failure And Firefighter Injuries
Protective equipment failure was listed as a contributing factor in 9 percent of injuries reported to the U.S. Fire Administration’s National Fire Incident Reporting System for the years 2006 through 2008. The most common types of equipment failure reported involved gloves with wristlets, positive-pressure self-contained breathing apparatus, and hoods, all of which combined to account for one-third of all incidents. You can potentially file a product defect claim for any type of faulty equipment, provided it can be proven to have caused or contributed to the injury.
