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Our 2-year old cousin riding in a child’s seat behind my husband got her leg caught into the spokes of the bike. Is the design of the bike or child’s seat unreasonably unsafe?
Without actually viewing the bike or the child’s seat, it is difficult to say which is defective. However, the purpose of using a child’s seat on a bike is so that you can take children biking with you safely. So the fact that your cousin was injured raises a red flag that the seat may not have been sufficiently manufactured to prevent injuries or that there was something unusual about the bike’s design that made it unreasonably dangerous. It is also possible that the shop that installed the child’s seat did it incorrectly.
Since it is very difficult for you, as a consumer, to prove what made the bike or seat unreasonably dangerous, you can hold both the manufacturers and the seller/installer liable as long as your husband was using the bike and child’s seat in the manner it was intended to be used and as long as neither had been substantially modified. This is called product liability. Between design defect and manufacturing defect cases, the manufacturing defect cases are usually easier to win since your lawyer can use the manufacturer's own design or marketing standards to show that the product didn’t meet the manufacturers own standards. Design defects, on the other hand, frequently involve a battle of experts, with each side providing witnesses to show why the seat and/or bike design was or wasn’t defective. A good attorney will want to find out if this particular seat or bike has had a history of similar problems and then sue all the proper parties if a lawsuit seems justified.
The bike or seat company’s attorneys may argue, however, that you are at least partially responsible for the injury to your cousin. Was your cousin too young or too small to be taken in the seat? Was she strapped in the seat according to instructions? Did the operation of the bike contribute to her injuries? Was there any lack of care by your husband that might have contributed to the child’s injury? These are the types of questions that you can expect to answer in this type of case. If your husband is found partially at fault for causing the child’s injury, you may pay for the consequences as your settlement will be reduced in proportion to your husband’s negligence.
When product defect did exist and did cause the injury, the injured can collect for medical expenses plus other damages. The dollar and cents figure would depend on the nature and severity of the child’s injury. Therefore, if your cousin has suffered permanent scarring or mobility problems from this incident, her damages may be considerable. However, if her injuries were minor or have no long-lasting effects, you may find that the case is not worth pursuing. Lawsuits are expensive and slow and the end is never guaranteed. It may not make sense to litigate. However, contact an experienced personal injury attorney or product liability attorney to assess the merits of your case.
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