75% of American businesses are underinsured, which means that many small businesses are one unfortunate event away from having to shut their doors forever.
Insuring your business isn’t just about protecting against natural disasters, burglary, or vandalism.
One of the top six most common incidents that can impact businesses is a product that caused damage or injury.
What is product liability insurance coverage in Ohio, and do you need it? Let’s take a look at everything you need to know.
What Is Product Liability Insurance Coverage in Ohio?
When you run a business, product liability insurance is crucial. If you don’t have this coverage, you won’t be protected if a claim is made against your company in regards to the product you sell.
While you strive to create safe and high-quality products that you sell to consumers, there is always the risk that something could go wrong. If one of your products causes property damage, bodily injury to an individual, or other types of damage, there’s a high likelihood you could get sued. With product liability insurance, you could save your company millions of dollars in the case a claim is made against you.
Who Needs Ohio Product Liability Insurance?
Product liability insurance coverage isn’t just for manufacturers of physical products. There are few products that couldn’t cause damage in one way or another and cause the company to be held liable. For example, if you sold a software program that claims to help investors gauge the movement of the stock market and the software experienced a glitch, you could be held liable for the losses of the investors who purchased your product.
The Types of Ohio Product Liability Claims
According to Ohio Revised Code 2307.71 (13), product liability claims are attempts to recover damages from a supplier or manufacturer through legal action due to a product that causes physical damage to property, emotional distress, physical injuries, or death. These damages or death must arise from a design or manufacturing defect, lack of a sufficient warranty, or a failure to fulfill the warranty.
Manufacturing or Production Flaw
A product liability claim arising from a manufacturing or production flaw can be related to several different aspects of a product including:
- Construction
- Production
- Design
- Formulation
- Assembly
- Marketing
- Testing
A manufacturer does not have to be aware of the risks associated with the product in order to be held liable for them if it can be proved that these risks could have been foreseen.
Lack of a Sufficient Warning
These types of claims occur when the plaintiff claims that there was no warning or insufficient warning in regard to the risk of using the product. They can also make this type of claim if they’re arguing that the instructions describing how to use the product safely were lacking or nonexistent.
Failure to Fulfill the Warranty
In terms of a product liability claim, a warranty refers to either the express warranty, the implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, or the implied warranty of merchantability.
Ohio Product Liability Insurance: Necessary to Protect Your Company
If you don’t have product liability insurance, you’re leaving your business vulnerable to damaging lawsuits. No one wants their products or services to cause harm to an individual, but regardless companies across the country deal with product liability claims every year.
If you’re an individual that has been injured by a defective or dangerous product, you may want to file a claim against a company to be reimbursed for the damages or injuries you incurred. In order to do this, you’ll want to find a product liability attorney to take your case. Call Tompkins, Selph, & Associates, LTD. today to request a consultation.