EXPERIENCED PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER SERVING ALL OF TEXAS
Written by Geoffrey Dashner. Read more about the author.
Most people who call our office after a product injury don’t start with a legal question. They start with “I didn’t even know this could happen.” A kitchen appliance catches fire. A child’s toy breaks apart and becomes a choking hazard. A prescription device malfunctions after surgery. The injury is real, the medical bills are mounting, and the manufacturer is nowhere to be found.
That’s the moment product liability law starts to matter in a very personal way. At Dashner Law Firm | Irving Injury & Accident Attorney, we handle these cases for clients across Irving and throughout Texas. What follows answers the questions I hear most often — the ones that come up before someone decides whether to pursue a claim at all.
Product Liability Lawyer FAQ in Irving
What is a product liability lawyer, and do I need one in Irving?
A product liability lawyer handles civil claims against manufacturers, distributors, retailers, or designers whose products cause injury or death. These cases fall into three main categories under Texas law: manufacturing defects (something went wrong during production), design defects (the product was conceived poorly from the start), and failure to warn (no adequate instructions or safety warnings were provided).
You need one if you were injured by a product and someone in the supply chain bears legal responsibility for that injury. Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule under Chapter 33 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, meaning you can still recover damages as long as you are not more than 50% responsible for your own injury. That calculation gets complicated fast when manufacturers push back and claim user error.
Irving sits in Dallas County and Tarrant County depending on the area, and local court filings have their own procedural quirks. Texas also has a two-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003, which starts running on the date of injury in most cases. Miss that window and you lose the right to sue entirely, regardless of how strong the evidence is.
In my experience, people wait too long because they assume the manufacturer will do the right thing once they file a complaint with customer service. They rarely do. Getting a product liability attorney involved early preserves evidence, protects your rights, and keeps the statute of limitations from becoming a problem.
What Types of Defective Product Cases Come Up Most Often in Texas?
The cases I see most in Texas — and specifically in the DFW area — tend to cluster around a few categories. Consumer electronics, power tools, automotive components, medical devices, children’s toys and furniture, and food products account for the bulk of what lands on my desk.
Automotive defect cases are particularly common here. Texas roads see heavy truck and SUV traffic, and rollover cases tied to tire failures or roof crush defects have generated significant litigation in state and federal courts. The Texas Department of Transportation has noted that vehicle defects play a contributing role in a measurable percentage of serious crashes each year.
Medical device cases have increased since 2022. The FDA’s MedWatch database shows thousands of adverse event reports annually linked to implants, surgical instruments, and diagnostic equipment. When a device fails inside someone’s body, the injuries are often catastrophic — and the liable parties may include both the manufacturer and the healthcare provider, depending on how the device was selected and implanted. Our Texas product defect attorneys regularly handle cases that involve coordinating medical expert witnesses with engineering consultants to establish exactly where the defect originated.
Children’s product failures hit particularly hard emotionally, but they also present strong legal claims because federal safety standards under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act set clear benchmarks that manufacturers must meet. When a product fails those benchmarks and a child is hurt, the evidentiary foundation is often easier to build.
One thing I tell clients: the size of the manufacturer does not determine whether you have a case. Small regional distributors can be just as liable as Fortune 500 companies, and in some cases they’re easier to hold accountable because they don’t have armies of in-house lawyers creating documentation gaps.
How Do You Prove a Product Was Defective Under Texas Law?
This is the question that determines whether a case settles quickly or goes to trial. Proof of a defect in Texas generally requires expert testimony. That’s not a suggestion — courts expect it, and defendants will move to exclude your case without it.
For a manufacturing defect, the argument is that your specific unit deviated from the manufacturer’s own design specifications. We obtain exemplar products, compare physical characteristics, and work with engineers to document the deviation. The American Bar Association has published guidance noting that forensic product analysis is now a standard component of these cases.
Design defect claims are more nuanced. Texas uses two tests: the consumer expectation test (did the product behave in a way an ordinary consumer would not have anticipated?) and the risk-utility test (do the risks of the design outweigh its benefits, and was a safer alternative feasible?). The risk-utility test is where most of the fight happens, because manufacturers argue that any safer alternative would have made the product too expensive or less functional.
Failure to warn cases depend heavily on what the manufacturer actually knew or should have known. If internal documents — emails, testing reports, complaint logs — show the company was aware of a hazard and chose not to update their warnings, that evidence can be decisive. Discovery in these cases often uncovers documents manufacturers would prefer stayed buried.
Physical evidence preservation matters from day one. Don’t throw the product away, don’t attempt repairs, and photograph everything before anyone touches it. I’ve had cases weakened significantly because a well-meaning family member discarded packaging or a retailer recalled and destroyed inventory before we could obtain a sample.
The Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute maintains a solid overview of the doctrinal standards applied in product liability cases across U.S. jurisdictions, which can help you understand the legal framework before your first attorney meeting.
What Compensation Can Irving Residents Recover in a Product Liability Claim?
Texas law allows recovery across several damage categories, and the final number depends on the specifics of your injury, your income, your age, and the strength of the defect evidence.
Economic damages include medical expenses (past and future), lost wages, diminished earning capacity, and the cost of ongoing care or rehabilitation. These are calculable with records and expert testimony. A traumatic brain injury from a defective product, for instance, can generate lifetime care costs that reach seven figures — the CDC has published data showing the lifetime economic cost of a TBI can exceed $3 million when lost productivity is included. If a defective product caused a serious head injury, our Texas brain injury attorneys can help quantify that full picture.
Non-economic damages cover pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life. Texas does not cap non-economic damages in most product liability cases (the $250,000 cap applies specifically to medical malpractice claims under Chapter 74, not general product defect claims). That distinction matters enormously for plaintiffs with severe injuries.
Punitive damages — called exemplary damages under Texas law — are available when a defendant acted with fraud, malice, or gross negligence. Under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.008, exemplary damages are capped at the greater of $200,000 or twice the economic damages plus up to $750,000 in non-economic damages. In cases where a manufacturer knew about a defect and concealed it, pursuing exemplary damages sends a message and increases the overall recovery.
Wrongful death cases, where a defective product kills someone, allow the surviving spouse, children, and parents to bring claims for pecuniary loss, loss of companionship, and mental anguish. Our Texas wrongful death attorneys handle these cases as part of our broader product liability practice.
One thing I tell every client before they get too attached to a number: settlement value and trial value are not the same thing. The strength of your expert witnesses, the quality of the internal documents we obtain, and the defendant’s litigation posture all affect what a case is actually worth at resolution.
How Do I Choose the Right Product Liability Attorney in Irving?
This is where I’ll be direct, even though it means talking about my own profession critically.
Product liability is not a generalist practice area. It requires retained engineering experts, access to litigation databases tracking prior defect claims, experience with multi-district litigation if the defect is widespread, and the financial resources to front case costs that can run $50,000 to $200,000 before trial. Not every personal injury firm has that infrastructure.
When you’re evaluating an attorney, ask specifically how many product liability cases they’ve taken to trial or through discovery — not just how many personal injury cases they’ve handled overall. Ask who their go-to engineering experts are. Ask whether they’ve handled cases involving the same type of product or industry. FindLaw offers a useful checklist for evaluating personal injury attorneys that covers fee structures, communication practices, and credentials.
Contingency fees are standard in Texas product liability cases, meaning you pay nothing unless there is a recovery. The typical range is 33% to 40% depending on whether the case settles or goes to trial. Make sure any retainer agreement you sign clearly specifies how case costs are handled — whether they’re deducted before or after the attorney fee is applied to the settlement affects your net recovery meaningfully.
Look at the firm’s track record. Our verdicts and settlements page shows what we’ve actually recovered for clients, not projections or promises. Real numbers from real cases tell you more than any marketing claim.
For our team’s background, we’ve been serving clients in Texas for years, handling everything from consumer product defect cases to industrial equipment failures. The firm’s Texas personal injury practice covers a wide range of claim types, but product liability is where we invest significant resources in expert relationships and case development.
Geography also matters. An attorney who regularly practices in Dallas County courts — where many Irving cases are filed — knows the judges, the local defense firms, and the procedural tendencies that affect case strategy. That local knowledge is worth something.
Justia provides free access to Texas court opinions, which can help you research an attorney’s litigation history in state courts.
What Happens During a Product Liability Case from Filing to Resolution?
Most clients have never been involved in civil litigation and don’t know what to expect. Here’s a realistic picture.
After we sign a retainer, the first few months are investigative. We obtain the product, send it to an expert, gather your medical records, and research the defendant’s history with similar complaints. If there’s an active recall or a known defect database entry with the CPSC or NHTSA, we pull that immediately — it can dramatically accelerate the case.
We file the lawsuit, which triggers the discovery phase. Both sides exchange documents, answer written questions (interrogatories), and take depositions. In product liability cases, depositions of the manufacturer’s engineers and quality control personnel are often the most revealing part of the process. Internal testing reports and complaint logs that manufacturers classify as confidential are frequently produced under protective orders.
Expert disclosure deadlines are usually set by the court’s scheduling order. Missing them is fatal to your case, so we work backward from those dates when building our litigation timeline.
The vast majority of Texas product liability cases settle before trial — Justia’s analysis of civil litigation data suggests the settlement rate in personal injury cases exceeds 90% nationally. Settlement typically happens after expert reports are exchanged, because at that point both sides understand what a jury would likely hear. Mediation is common and often required by Texas courts before trial.
If the case goes to trial, a Dallas County jury will decide both liability and damages. Jury selection in product cases is critical — attitudes toward corporate accountability vary, and experienced trial counsel know how to identify jurors who will engage seriously with technical evidence.
The whole process, from filing to resolution, typically takes 18 to 36 months for a contested product liability case. Simpler cases with clear liability can resolve faster. Mass tort situations involving hundreds or thousands of plaintiffs operate on different timelines through MDL procedures in federal court.
Talk to a Product Liability Attorney Before Time Runs Out
If you or someone close to you was hurt by a defective product in Irving, the two-year clock started running on the date of injury. Evidence disappears. Manufacturers issue recalls that complicate causation arguments. Witnesses move. The sooner you get counsel involved, the stronger your position.
Dashner Law Firm | Irving Injury & Accident Attorney represents injured clients and their families throughout Texas with no upfront costs. Call us at (972) 635-4460 to schedule a free consultation, or contact us online and we’ll respond promptly.
You can also visit our Irving office at 4500 Fuller Dr, Irving, TX 75038. We’re here to answer your questions and give you a straight assessment of your case — no pressure, no obligation.
