Hurt By A Consumer Product? Preserve, Don’t Pitch
On Behalf of The Andres Lopez Law Firm , PA | October 31, 2025 | Uncategorized
When a product fails (an exploding battery, a collapsing chair, a power tool that locks and kicks) the single most important rule is simple: keep everything. Product-liability claims succeed or fail on the physical item and the story around it. Preservation today prevents doubt tomorrow.
Below, our friends from
The Law Office of Jeffrey Weiskopf discuss the importance of preserving evidence when you are hurt by a consumer product - don’t throw anything away.
Secure The Product Intact
Don’t repair, disassemble, clean, or discard it. Gather every piece, including broken fragments, fasteners, packaging, warnings, and manuals. Store it safely in a labeled sealed container with the date and a brief description. Take clear photos from multiple angles.
Collect The Paper And Digital Trail
Save the receipt, online order confirmation, warranty card, and any emails or chats with the seller or manufacturer. Note the brand, model, and serial number. If you saw odd behavior beforehand, such as overheating, smell, intermittent failure, write down dates and observations.
Document The Environment And Use
Where did the failure occur? What surface, outlet, charger, or accessory was involved? Was the product used as intended or in a foreseeable way? Photograph the area and the setup. Capture witness names and short summaries of what they heard or saw.
Get Medical Care Tied To Mechanism
Burns, eye injuries, lacerations, and orthopedic harm have typical patterns. Early treatment records that describe how the product caused the injury help legal professionals connect dots between design or manufacturing issues and your outcome.
Avoid Home Testing
Well-meaning experiments can alter the product and complicate professional analysis. If you’ve already tinkered, stop and document what you did.
Beware Immediate Returns And Warranty Swaps
Customer service may ask you to mail the item back. Once it’s gone, so is your best evidence. Consult counsel about arranging a joint inspection or preserving a chain of custody that lets both sides examine the item fairly.
Preserve Items Owned By Others
If the product belongs to someone else, notify them in writing and ask that they preserve the item without altering it. Politely decline “upgrades” or replacements until joint inspection can occur. Chain of custody matters: it’s the paper trail that shows the item you tested is the item that failed.
Track Costs And Disruptions
Keep receipts for medical care, replacement items, time missed from work, and even travel to appointments. If the failure forced you to change routines, note those practical impacts. Real-world inconvenience helps quantify non-medical harm.
When In Doubt, Keep It
The box, the manual, the email thread, the cracked tile the product fell onto; they all help professionals reconstruct what happened. Finally, don’t be intimidated by technical questions. You don’t have to diagnose why the product failed. Your job is to preserve and describe; qualified engineers can test, measure, and explain. Clear preservation and honest documentation turn a confusing accident into an answerable question. That’s the foundation of accountability.
If you or someone you love has been injured by a faulty or dangerous product, a
car accident lawyer can help you to determine whether or not you should move forward with a personal injury claim.
