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Consumers trust that the products they use every day are reasonably safe. Whether it’s a vehicle, industrial machine, piece of equipment, household product, or consumer good, manufacturers have a responsibility to design, produce, and market products that do not place people at unnecessary risk of harm.
When companies fail to meet that responsibility, the consequences can be devastating. Defective products have the potential to cause catastrophic injuries, permanent disabilities, and wrongful death. Holding manufacturers accountable often requires extensive investigation, technical analysis, expert testimony, and a willingness to challenge some of the largest corporations in the country.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured by a defective product, contact Langdon & Emison today. Call 866-931-2115 for a free consultation and learn how our team can help protect your rights.
Product liability cases are often among the most complex forms of personal injury litigation. Unlike a typical negligence claim, these cases frequently require attorneys to investigate engineering decisions, manufacturing processes, product testing, safety standards, and corporate conduct that may have occurred years before an injury took place.
Manufacturers and other companies involved in the distribution chain often have substantial resources at their disposal, including engineers, technical experts, risk management teams, and defense attorneys. Successfully pursuing a product liability claim frequently requires an equally thorough investigation and a deep understanding of both the product itself and the laws governing defective products.
Product liability litigation often involves:
These cases are rarely straightforward. Determining why a product failed, whether safer alternatives existed, and who should be held responsible often requires significant resources and preparation.
At Langdon & Emison, we understand the challenges product liability cases present. Our attorneys work with engineers, industry experts, and other specialists to investigate defective products and build cases designed to hold manufacturers accountable for the harm they cause.
For 40 years, Langdon & Emison has represented individuals and families in complex litigation involving defective products and catastrophic injuries. We have built a national reputation for taking on challenging cases against manufacturers and other powerful corporate defendants.
Our firm approaches product liability claims with the understanding that success often depends on preparation, investigation, and the ability to present highly technical evidence in a clear and compelling manner. We work closely with engineers, accident reconstruction specialists, medical experts, and other professionals to understand how a product failed and how that failure affected our clients.
Clients turn to Langdon & Emison because we offer:
When defective products cause serious harm, accountability often requires more than a demand letter or settlement negotiation. It requires a legal team prepared to investigate the facts, challenge corporate defendants, and pursue justice wherever the evidence leads.
| Kumar v. Toyota — $59 Million Verdict
Langdon & Emison represented a passenger whose legs were crushed and ultimately amputated after sliding beneath a seat belt during a collision. The case focused on Toyota’s failure to warn consumers about the dangers associated with riding in a reclined seat position and resulted in what was then the largest jury verdict in Maryland history. |
| Baker v. General Motors — $11.3 Million Verdict
After a post-collision fire claimed the lives of two adults, Langdon & Emison pursued claims that the vehicle lacked a safety device that could have prevented fuel-fed fires. During trial, the firm helped uncover evidence showing General Motors weighed the cost of safety improvements against potential wrongful death claims, resulting in an $11.3 million verdict for the victims’ family. |
| Mason v. Wal-Mart — $6 Million Verdict
Langdon & Emison represented a family after a defective fan overheated, caught fire, and tragically killed a 14-month-old child. The case alleged the product lacked a safety shutoff mechanism that would have prevented the fire, and a Missouri jury awarded the family $6 million. |
Product liability law allows injured consumers to pursue compensation when a defective or unreasonably dangerous product causes harm. Unlike many personal injury claims that focus primarily on a person’s actions, product liability cases often examine how a product was designed, manufactured, tested, marketed, and sold.
These claims may involve multiple parties within the chain of distribution, including:
When a dangerous product causes catastrophic injuries or death, determining responsibility often requires a detailed investigation into how the product reached consumers and whether safety failures occurred at any point in the process.
Product liability cases can arise from a wide range of products, including motor vehicles, industrial equipment, agricultural machinery, consumer goods, household products, recreational products, and other items people rely upon every day.
Because these cases frequently involve technical issues and large corporate defendants, product liability litigation often requires extensive investigation, expert analysis, and substantial resources.
One of the unique aspects of product liability law is the doctrine of strict liability.
In many personal injury cases, an injured person must prove that another party acted negligently. Product liability claims are often different. Under strict liability principles, the focus is generally placed on whether a product was defective and whether that defect caused the injury—not necessarily whether the manufacturer intended to cause harm or acted carelessly.
In simple terms, an injured consumer may not need to prove that a company knowingly created a dangerous product. Instead, the primary questions often become:
The strict liability doctrine exists because manufacturers are often in the best position to identify risks, implement safety measures, and ensure products placed into the marketplace are reasonably safe for consumers.
While strict liability can provide an important avenue for recovery, these cases remain highly complex. Manufacturers frequently dispute whether a defect existed, whether the product was misused, or whether another factor caused the injury. Successfully pursuing these claims often requires extensive expert testimony, technical evidence, and a thorough understanding of product liability law.
Product liability cases are won long before they reach a courtroom. They are built through disciplined, technical investigation that preserves evidence early, uncovers design choices, and reconstructs how and why a product failed.
The first priority is product preservation. In catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases, the product itself is often the most important piece of evidence. We move quickly to ensure it is not repaired, altered, or discarded, and that it is secured in a condition that preserves critical failure points for later analysis.
From there, we engage in engineering analysis to understand what went wrong at a systems level. This often involves mechanical, electrical, or materials engineers who can identify design flaws, stress points, or foreseeable failure modes that contributed to the incident.
We then bring in qualified experts for independent review, including accident reconstructionists, human factors specialists, and safety professionals. Their role is to evaluate how the product performed in real-world conditions and whether that performance met acceptable safety standards.
In many cases, we conduct controlled testing to replicate failure conditions. This can include exemplar product testing, component stress testing, or simulations that help demonstrate how a defect manifests under normal use. These results are often critical in explaining complex technical failures to a jury.
A major part of the investigation focuses on corporate documents and internal records. This includes emails, safety reports, prior incident histories, and internal discussions about known risks. These materials often reveal what the company knew about the danger — and whether it was addressed or ignored.
We also examine design records and engineering specifications, including drawings, prototypes, and revision histories. These documents help establish whether safer alternative designs existed and whether cost, production, or other considerations influenced final design choices.
Finally, we analyze the product’s safety history, including recalls, consumer complaints, regulatory filings, and prior litigation. Patterns across time often reveal whether a defect was isolated, or part of a known, ongoing risk.
This investigative approach is what allows Langdon & Emison to build trial-ready cases against major manufacturers. Every detail matters, because in product liability litigation, the truth is almost always embedded in the engineering, the documents, and the decisions made long before an injury ever occurred.
Defective products can permanently alter or end lives. When these failures happen, the injuries are often severe, long-term, and require extensive medical care and rehabilitation.
Common catastrophic injuries in product liability cases include:
Each of these injuries typically involves significant medical evidence, long-term care planning, and expert testimony to fully demonstrate the extent of harm and future needs.
When a defective product causes serious injury, compensation is intended to account for both immediate losses and long-term consequences.
This can include medical expenses for emergency treatment, surgeries, hospital stays, rehabilitation, and ongoing care needs. In severe injury cases, damages often extend to future medical costs that can last a lifetime. Victims may also recover lost income and diminished earning capacity when injuries prevent a return to work or limit future employment opportunities.
Non-economic damages may include pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and the physical and psychological impact of permanent injury.
In cases involving extreme misconduct or reckless disregard for safety, punitive damages may also be available, depending on the jurisdiction and facts of the case.
When a defective product causes catastrophic harm, early legal action matters. Critical evidence can disappear quickly—from the product itself to internal corporate records that may later prove liability.
Langdon & Emison focuses on complex, high-stakes product liability cases involving serious injury and wrongful death. The firm has the resources to investigate manufacturers, preserve evidence, and take cases to trial when necessary.
If you or a loved one has been injured by a dangerous or defective product, you should not have to navigate the legal process alone. A detailed case review can help determine what happened, who is responsible, and what compensation may be available.
Contact Langdon & Emison today to discuss your case and protect your rights. Call 866-931-2115 or fill out our online contact form.
You may have a claim if a defective product caused your injury while it was being used as intended or in a reasonably foreseeable way. Most cases involve proving the product was defective and that the defect directly caused harm.
Yes, in many situations you can still bring a claim even if the product is no longer in your possession. Evidence can often be reconstructed through records, photographs, witnesses, purchase history, or retained product components.
A missing or inadequate warning can itself be a basis for liability. Manufacturers have a duty to warn users about non-obvious risks associated with normal or foreseeable use of a product.
Not necessarily. Many product liability claims are based on strict liability, which focuses on whether the product was defective and caused injury, rather than whether the manufacturer acted carelessly.
Timelines vary widely depending on the complexity of the defect, the severity of the injury, and whether the case settles or goes to trial. Cases involving major manufacturers and expert testimony often take longer due to extensive discovery.
Yes. Depending on the case, responsibility may extend to manufacturers, designers, distributors, or retailers who were involved in bringing the product to market.
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