When a defective product kills your loved one, you’re dealing with heartbreaking loss and complicated legal questions. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, faulty products cause approximately 29.4 million injuries and 22,800 deaths every year in the United States, with Florida seeing its share of these tragedies. The National Safety Council reports that preventable injury-related deaths cost the U.S. economy $1,257.4 billion in 2022, showing the real impact of product liability death in Florida and nationwide.
Florida law makes it easier for families like yours. You don’t have to prove the manufacturer was careless. You just need to show that the product had a defect in its design, manufacture, or marketing. But you need to move quickly. Evidence gets lost, people forget what happened, and essential documents become hard to find.
A product liability death in Florida lawsuit can get you more than just help with funeral costs. You can recover money for lost income, the loss of your loved one’s presence in your life, and the pain your family has suffered. Getting the right legal approach for your case makes the difference between getting justice and walking away with nothing.
Key Takeaways
- Florida’s strict liability laws hold manufacturers accountable for fatal defects without requiring proof of negligence.
- Three defect types enable claims: design flaws, manufacturing errors, and inadequate warnings or instructions.
- Families can recover medical expenses, funeral costs, lost income, and compensation for emotional suffering.
- Preserve the defective product and consult an experienced attorney immediately due to strict filing deadlines.
- Punitive damages may be awarded when manufacturers show gross negligence or reckless disregard for safety.
Understanding Product Liability in Fatal Injury Cases in Florida
When a defective product causes a fatal injury, Florida law gives your family clear ways to hold manufacturers responsible. You don’t have to prove that the company was careless or made a mistake intentionally. The law uses what’s called strict liability, which means you only need to show two things: the product was defective, and it directly caused your loved one’s death.
Florida’s product liability death in Florida laws protect families by making things simpler. Instead of proving what the manufacturer did wrong, you focus on proving the product itself was defective. This provides a stronger path to obtaining justice and the compensation your family needs.
Who Can File A Product Liability Death In Florida Claim, On Behalf Of The Deceased?
Only the personal representative of your loved one’s estate can file a product liability death claim in Florida, and the probate court must appoint this person. The personal representative acts on behalf of all surviving family members who can recover damages, including spouses, children, parents, and sometimes other blood relatives who were partly dependent on the deceased. According to the Florida Courts’ data, wrongful death cases, including product liability claims, accounted for approximately 1,847 tort filings in Florida circuit courts during the 2022-2023 period. The National Center for State Courts reports that cases with proper legal representation are 3.5 times more likely to result in favorable settlements or verdicts.
The personal representative handles all legal decisions for survivors and ensures compensation gets distributed according to Florida law. If your loved one had a will, it typically names the person who should serve as the personal representative. If there’s no will, Florida Statutes Section 733.301 lists the order of preference: surviving spouse first, then adult children, then parents. This role is critical in a product liability case involving a death in Florida because one person makes decisions that affect the entire family’s financial future.
Types of Defects That Can Lead to Wrongful Death in Florida
When a defective product causes a fatal injury, Florida law gives your family clear ways to hold manufacturers responsible. You don’t have to prove that the company was careless or made a mistake intentionally. The law uses what’s called strict liability, which means you only need to show two things: the product was defective, and it directly caused your loved one’s death.
Your case will fall into one of these defect categories:
- Design defects occur when a product is inherently dangerous from the outset, built in a manner that renders it unsafe, regardless of how carefully it’s made. Examples include SUVs with a high center of gravity that are prone to rolling over easily, space heaters that ignite nearby materials, or tools with exposed moving parts that can catch clothing or hair.
- Manufacturing defects occur when something goes wrong during production, even though the design itself is safe. This includes contaminated food or medication, car parts installed incorrectly during the assembly line process, or medical devices with faulty components that have passed through quality control.
- Marketing defects involve missing or wrong information about how to use a product safely. This includes prescription drugs without proper warnings about side effects, household chemicals with incomplete safety instructions, or machinery that fails to explain known dangers.
- Warning label failures specifically relate to products that fail to inform users about hidden risks. Think of cribs that don’t warn about suffocation hazards, ladders missing weight limits, or electrical equipment without voltage warnings.
- Instruction defects occur when a product comes with unclear or missing directions, leading to fatal mistakes. This includes complex machinery without proper assembly guides, medical equipment lacking usage protocols, or children’s products with confusing safety setup instructions.
Product liability lawsuits involving death in Florida often involve multiple defect types working together. A wrongful death attorney in Florida can review your situation and determine which defects apply, building the strongest possible case. The path you take in a product liability death in Florida claim depends on identifying the right defect category. That choice affects both your legal strategy and the compensation your family can recover.
Compensation Available for Families in Product Liability Claims
| Type of Compensation | What It Covers |
| Medical Expenses | Hospital bills, emergency room costs, ambulance fees, medications, and any treatment your loved one received before passing away |
| Funeral and Burial Costs | Funeral services, casket or cremation, burial plot, headstone, memorial services, and related expenses |
| Lost Income and Support | The wages and salaries your loved one would have earned over their lifetime, including raises and career advancement they would have received |
| Loss of Benefits | Health insurance, retirement contributions, pension plans, and other employment benefits your family has lost |
| Loss of Services | The value of household tasks, childcare, home repairs, financial management, and other contributions your loved one provided |
| Loss of Companionship | The emotional support, love, comfort, and partnership you shared with your spouse or parent |
| Loss of Guidance | Health insurance, retirement contributions, pension plans, and other employment benefits your family has lost |
| Pain and Suffering | The emotional support, love, comfort, and partnership you shared with your spouse or parent |
| Punitive Damages | Parental instruction, mentorship, advice, and nurturing that children have lost from a parent. |
Courts award these in product liability death cases in Florida where the conduct was especially reckless. The compensation you can recover depends on your loved one’s age, income, health, life expectancy, and their role in your family. It also depends on how many dependents they supported and your family’s specific financial needs going forward. There are ways to help your personal injury lawyer build a stronger case for maximum compensation.
Keep all medical records, employment documents, tax returns, and proof of your loved one’s contributions to the household. Document your relationship through photos, videos, and written memories to preserve your memories. Track every expense related to the death and its aftermath. The more complete information you provide, the better your lawyer can demonstrate the full scope of your family’s losses in your product liability death in Florida claims.
The Role of Punitive Damages in Defective Product Cases
Although compensatory damages address your family’s direct losses from a defective product fatality, punitive damages serve a distinctly different purpose in Florida product liability cases. These damages punish manufacturers who acted with gross negligence or reckless disregard for consumer safety while deterring similar conduct industry-wide.
Florida courts award punitive damages when manufacturers demonstrate:
- Willful misconduct – Knowingly releasing dangerous products despite awareness of safety risks
- Gross negligence – Failing to conduct adequate safety testing or ignoring warning signs during development
- Reckless indifference – Prioritizing profits over consumer safety through deliberate cost-cutting measures
Unlike compensatory damages, punitive awards aren’t tied to your family’s specific losses. They’re calculated based on the defendant’s conduct severity and financial capacity, often resulting in substantial awards that send powerful messages about corporate accountability.
Critical Steps to Take After a Fatal Product-Related Accident
When you lose a loved one to a defective product, the actions you take in the days and weeks that follow can make or break your product liability death in Florida case. Here are the steps you need to take to protect your family’s legal rights and build the most substantial possible claim.
- Preserve the defective product exactly as it was at the time of the accident. Don’t clean it, repair it, throw it away, or let anyone else handle it. This product is the most crucial piece of evidence in your case. Store it in a safe place where it won’t be damaged or altered. Also, save all related materials, including the product packaging, instruction manuals, warranty information, and receipts.
- Document everything with photos and videos from multiple angles to capture the full context. Capture the product, the accident scene, any warning labels or instructions, and anything else that shows what happened. Take close-up shots and wide shots. Photograph or film before anything is moved or cleaned up.
- Get copies of all medical records and the death certificate. Request complete hospital records, emergency room reports, autopsy results, and the coroner’s report. These documents prove the link between the defective product and your loved one’s death.
- Identify and contact witnesses who saw the accident or have information about how your loved one used the product. Get their full names, phone numbers, and addresses. Write down everything you remember about the accident while the details are fresh, and ask witnesses to do the same.
- Keep all receipts and records of expenses related to the death. This includes medical bills, funeral expenses, travel costs, and lost wages due to time off work. Track every dollar you spend as a result of this tragedy.
- Research whether other people have been injured or killed by the same product. Look for news reports, recalls, lawsuits, and complaints filed with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This information can strengthen your product liability death in Florida claim.
- Contact a lawyer who handles product liability cases as soon as possible. Don’t wait weeks or months. Evidence disappears quickly, and Florida has strict deadlines for filing wrongful death lawsuits. An experienced attorney can protect the evidence, interview witnesses while their memories are clear, and start building your case right away. Avoid talking to insurance adjusters or representatives from the manufacturer without your lawyer present.
Florida’s Legal Framework for Product Liability and Wrongful Death
Florida handles product liability cases involving death in Florida under the Florida Wrongful Death Act, as found in Florida Statutes Sections 768.16 through 768.26. Only the personal representative of your loved one’s estate can file the lawsuit, acting on behalf of surviving family members like spouses, children, and parents. You have two years from the date of death to file your claim under Florida Statutes Section 95.11(4)(d). Miss this deadline and you lose your right to sue, no matter how strong your case is.
To prove your product liability death in Florida, Florida uses strict liability rules that work in your favor. You don’t have to prove the manufacturer was careless, just that the product was defective and unreasonably dangerous, and that the defect directly caused your loved one’s death.
Even if your loved one shares some fault for the accident, your family can still recover money, though the court will reduce your award by their percentage of fault under Florida Statutes Section 768.81. Punitive damages are available when the manufacturer acted with intentional misconduct or gross negligence. Still, these are capped at three times your compensatory damages or $500,000, whichever is more, according to Florida Statutes Section 768.73.
Why Expert Legal Representation Matters in Complex Product Cases
Product liability cases involving death in Florida require specialized knowledge that most lawyers lack. You’re going up against giant corporations with teams of lawyers whose only job is to pay your family as little as possible or nothing at all. A personal injury lawyer in Florida with experience in product liability cases knows how to hire the right experts to prove the product was defective. They also understand Florida’s strict deadlines and complex rules that can kill your case if you make even minor mistakes.
These cases can be extremely costly to build correctly, as they require expert witnesses, product testing, and detailed investigations that can run into tens of thousands of dollars. Most families can’t afford these upfront costs, but experienced product liability lawyers work on a contingency basis, meaning they cover all costs and only get paid if you win. A lawyer who regularly handles product liability death in Florida claims to know how to value your case correctly so you don’t accept low settlement offers.
Conclusion: Getting Justice After Product Liability Death in Florida
At Calandro Law, we treat families dealing with product liability death in Florida cases like our own because we understand the pain you’re going through. Andrew Calandro and our team have the resources of a large national firm and the experience of litigating cases throughout the state of Florida. Still, we provide you with the personal attention and compassion you expect from your neighborhood lawyer.
We take on giant corporations and insurance companies, make them pay for the harm they’ve caused, and fight until your family gets the justice you deserve. Contact us today for a complimentary consultation to discuss your case and explore how we can help your family move forward.
