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All of us rely on products and services to get by with our daily lives'Food, clothing, vehicles are among the most basic things we need to live our life with comfort. To ensure this, it is but reasonable to expect that these products be of top quality and durability.

However, what will happen if we encounter a product that has such low quality as to cause dire effects on our health and well-being?

If you or a family member has become a victim of a defective product, which resulted to injuries and worst, fatality, we have the right to carry out legal actions that would apprehend the persons or entities liable for a particular product's quality.

This right is provided under the terms of product liability in the Trade Practices Act implemented after July 9, 1992. According to its provisions, those who have suffered injury or loss because of a substandard product or service and have given grounds can sue the supplier or manufacturer of the particular consumer product or service.

How a defective product is defined

As a consumer, you have expectations upon buying a product or paying for a service. Your expectations may be connected with your purpose in purchasing the product and the safety precautions given. If the product or service failed the consumer's expectations and even resulted to the exact opposite of it, then it can be assumed or alleged that the product was indeed defective or substandard.

However, a fixed definition of a defective product would present a difficulty. No absolute set of policy could fit every product manufactured or made and every service being rendered.

In deciding if a product or service has been defective or substandard, common sense and court decision or ruling are fundamentally depended upon.

Here are several factors that are taken into account in the process of deciding whether a product is functioning or malfunctioning:

- when the product was delivered or supplied

- how the product was packaged

- how the product was marketed

- what are the instructions for the product's use and the warnings concerning it

- what is expected upon use of the product

How liability for defective products is established

The liability or responsibility of every party involved in the chain of product's manufacture is taken into account in establishing a product liability case.

It concerns the following:

- the product's component parts manufacturer

- assembling parts manufacturer

- wholesaler

- owner of retail store where product was bought

The main concept in establishing product liability involves tangible consumer products that are personal property. However, over time, this concept has been stretched to also refer to products that are intangible like gas and naturals like pets, writings or navigational charts and real estate.

In order to establish a product liability claim or lawsuit properly, victims need to retain an experienced litigation attorney with considerable experience and impressive track record in such cases. He or she will be able to give qualified legal advice on the legal alternatives according to the particular circumstances.