Product liability refers to the legal liability of designers, manufacturers and sellers to compensate buyers, users, and even bystanders, for damages or injuries suffered because of defects in goods purchased. A tort (i.e. a civil wrong) which makes a manufacturer liable if his product has a defective condition that makes it unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer.

To be successful in any products liability case, the plaintiff must aggressively pursue discovery to prove his case and establish for the jury the manufacturers liability. When you consider that the defendant manufacturer has all the inside information regarding the product and has virtually unlimited resources to prepare a case srgainst you, there can be no question b ~thtsr t discovery is the most critical aspect of the plaintiffs case. The enly way for a plaintiff to level the playing field against the "mega-giant manufacturer" is to obtain critical information establishing the culpability of the manufacturer through the discovery process.

Defectively designed machines account for some of the most horrific injuries sustained by workers. A common design defect is the absence or inadequacy of safety guards on workplace machinery. Employee exposure to unguarded or inadequately guarded machines is prevalent in many workplaces. Consequently, workers who operate and maintain machinery suffer approximately 18,000 amputations, lacerations, crushing injuries, and abrasions per year. Additionally, over 800 deaths per year can be attributed to machine related incidents.

For the past few years I have been fortunate enough to focus my practice exclusively on the area of long-term care litigation. Having practiced in this area of medical liability throughout the southeast, I can safely say from experience that Alabama’s law in the area of long-term care litigation, and in medical liability litigation in general, ranks among the most confusing and complex areas of law in the region. Indeed, Alabama’s amalgam of both statutory and common law in the area of medical liability litigation create a quagmire in which an unsuspecting practitioner can easily become entrenched.

The sale of various forms of annuity contracts as retirement and savings vehicles has been around for many years. Originally, Congress was faced with whether or not to include the regulation of annuities as investments under the Securities Act of 1933. Eventually Congress decided that with the wide regulation of insurers and banks for annuities they would be exempt from the 1933 Act.