When a product you trusted injures you or your family, the betrayal is real. So is the confusion about what to do next. Should you file your own lawsuit? Join a class action? The answer depends on what happened to you and how many others were harmed the same way.
This guide explains your rights under California law, one of the most consumer friendly states in the country, and helps you understand which legal path makes sense.
Why California Law Favors Injured Consumers
California uses a legal doctrine called strict liability that gives injured consumers a major advantage.
In most injury cases, you’d have to prove the company was careless or negligent. That’s hard to do when you’re up against a corporation with armies of lawyers and access to all the evidence.
Under California’s strict liability rules, you don’t have to prove the company did anything wrong. You only need to prove four things:
- The company made, distributed, or sold the product
- The product was defective when it left their hands
- You were harmed
- The defect substantially contributed to your harm
The focus shifts from “Did the company mess up?” to “Was the product dangerous?” That’s a much easier case to make.
The Three Types of Product Defects
California recognizes three ways a product can be legally defective. A company can be held liable for any of them.
Manufacturing Defects are isolated mistakes. The product was designed correctly, but something went wrong during production. Think of a chair with a leg that wasn’t bolted on properly, or a single contaminated bottle of medication from an otherwise safe batch.
Design Defects are more serious because the entire product line is dangerous. Every unit has the same flaw because the flaw is baked into the design itself. The classic example is the Ford Pinto, where the gas tank was positioned in a way that made it rupture and catch fire in rear end collisions. Every Pinto had this problem.
Failure to Warn defects occur when a product has hidden dangers the company didn’t adequately disclose. Even a well designed, well made product can be defective if the company failed to warn you about risks that weren’t obvious. A medication that causes serious side effects needs clear warnings; a toxic chemical needs instructions for safe use.
One important note: California law requires companies to anticipate reasonably foreseeable misuse. If people commonly stand on chairs to reach high shelves, the company can’t simply blame you for using it “wrong.”
Two Paths Forward
The Individual Lawsuit
If a defective product caused you significant harm, including substantial medical bills, lost income, or serious pain, an individual lawsuit is designed to compensate you for your specific losses.
Real California cases show what’s possible. A mother left paralyzed after a minivan rollover secured a $2.25 million settlement based on defective roof and seatbelt design. A worker who lost his leg to a defective grinding machine recovered $7.8 million. A man who suffered brain damage from a malfunctioning medical pump settled for $5.5 million.
What You Can Recover
Economic damages cover your actual financial losses: medical bills (past and future), lost wages, reduced earning capacity, and property damage.
Non economic damages cover the human cost: physical pain, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and disfigurement. These are harder to calculate but equally real under the law.
Punitive damages may apply in extreme cases where a company showed conscious disregard for safety, like Ford’s calculated decision that paying off lawsuits would be cheaper than adding an $11 fix to the Pinto’s gas tank.
What to Expect
Most cases follow a predictable path. After you get medical care and preserve the evidence (critically important: do not throw away the defective product), your attorney investigates, files a formal complaint, and begins discovery, the phase where both sides exchange information. The vast majority of cases settle before trial, but if the company won’t offer fair compensation, you go before a jury.
The Class Action
Class actions work best when many people suffer the same harm from the same defect. Their power is in numbers.
Consider a company that overcharges a million customers by $10 each. That’s $10 million in illegal profit, but no individual is going to hire a lawyer over $10. By combining all those claims, a class action makes accountability possible.
How It Works
One or a few people (the “Class Representatives”) sue on behalf of everyone affected. Before the case can proceed, a judge must “certify” that the group meets certain requirements: enough people are affected, they share common legal questions, the representatives’ claims are typical of the group, and the lawyers can adequately protect everyone’s interests.
The Trade Off
Class actions involve a fundamental exchange. You give up individual control and potentially larger compensation. In return, you get a hands off, no cost path to justice.
The advantages are real. You benefit from top lawyers without paying anything upfront. You gain leverage against corporations that would crush individual plaintiffs. For small claims, it’s often the only practical option.
The disadvantages matter too. Payouts are split among thousands or millions of people. The lead plaintiffs and their lawyers make all the decisions. And critically, once you’re part of the class, you’re bound by the settlement. You cannot file your own lawsuit later for the same claim.
Key Questions Answered
How long do I have to file? California generally gives you two years from when you discovered (or should have discovered) both your injury and its connection to the product. This “discovery rule” can extend deadlines for problems that aren’t immediately apparent.
What should I do right now? Get medical care if injured. Then preserve the product, as this is your most important evidence. Document everything with photos. Contact an attorney before talking to the company or their insurance.
Where can I check for recalls? The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission at cpsc.gov tracks recalls and lets you report unsafe products. The California Attorney General’s office at oag.ca.gov/consumers handles consumer complaints and investigations.
The Bottom Line
Whether an individual lawsuit or a class action makes sense depends on your situation. Serious, life altering injuries usually warrant individual cases that can fully compensate your unique losses. Widespread harm affecting many people the same way often fits the class action model.
Either way, California law provides strong protections. The first step is understanding your options.
