WI product liability settlements: chainsaw injury lawsuits Injury settlement amounts depend on the quality of your lawyer.

The key to any personal injury lawsuit is establishing liability. This area of law is known as product liability, and it requires proving one’s injury resulted from a manufacturing defect, a design defect, or a failure on the part of the manufacturer to adequately warn the user of a known danger or to provide proper operating instructions for the chainsaw. Product liability cases are often quite complex due to the manufacturer having so much on the line. These cases require experienced attorneys with ample resources to investigate case law as well as all the specifics pertaining to your case.

Personal injury attorneys in Milwaukee, WI, establish product liability to get victims the maximum compensation

As you might expect with something as inherently dangerous as a handheld motorized saw with a spinning chain, accidents will happen. Let’s talk numbers: On average, there are around 40,000 chainsaw-related injuries and deaths every year in America.

While many chainsaw injuries can be attributed to careless use, many more are due to defective or poorly designed chainsaws, as well as unclear or incorrect operating instructions from the manufacturer. For those who have suffered serious injuries, and for the families of those unfortunate enough to have died from their injuries, the only recourse is legal action.

Three common causes for chainsaw injury

1. Kickback - Kickback happens when a chain saw contacts a solid object or is pinched in a tight space. The term describes the chainsaw suddenly being propelled back towards the operator.
2. Pull-in - Pull-in happens when the chain is suddenly stopped due to the saw being pinched in a tight spot or encountering a hard area or foreign object in the wood being cut. The chain pulls the saw suddenly forward, which can cause a loss of control.
3. Pushback - Pushback happens when the chain is suddenly stopped due to being caught in an object or due to a foreign object in the wood. This can cause the saw to be rapidly pushed back toward the operator.

Most common chainsaw injuries around Milwaukee

Most chainsaw injuries occur to the hands and lower limbs. Injuries to the head and neck account for less than 10% of all injuries, although these are typically the most lethal. It’s rare that a chainsaw injury is ever something you can simply put a Band-Aid on. While improper use or bad judgment on the part of the operator is the most common cause for injury, often the manufacturer can be held partially accountable for lack of clear operating instructions and warning, as well as for a lack of safety features that could easily have prevented the injury.

Almost every year, the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) issues recalls of chainsaws due to injuries brought about by faulty design or manufacturing. Even this partial list of some recalls over the years should be enough to illustrate how often there are problems with chainsaws and how serious they can be:

• In 1997, the CPSC announced a recall of 277,000 Husqvarna chain saws due to the potential of heat from the muffler melting the front handguard, causing serious hand injury. The company reported one serious hand injury and one death due to the failure of the heat guard.
• In 2005, the CPSC announced the recall of about 1,300 DOLMAR chainsaws due to the potential for flywheels to come apart during use and strike the user or those standing nearby.
• In 2006, the CPSC announced the recall of about 76,000 Troy-Bilt and Craftsman brand chain saws after two reports of consumers losing control of the saw when the front handle unexpectedly broke during use. Both brands were built by Chinese manufacturer MTD.
• In 2008, the CPSC announced a recall of 8 Homelite chain saws due to a potential failure of their chain brake and the risk of laceration and other serious injuries.
• In 2012, the CPSC announced a recall of 3,000 STIHL chainsaws due to a manufacturing defect which could cause parts of the flywheel to be ejected from the saw and hit the user or bystanders.

When it comes to personal injury lawsuits, Warshafsky Law stands apart from all other Milwaukee personal injury law firms. Unlike the typical “sign and settle” law firm, we won’t settle for the lowball offers insurance companies typically make in personal injury cases. Those law firms churn through hundreds of cases a year without ever taking a one to court. Not Warshafsky. We prepare every case from day one as if it will go to court, and our goal is always to secure the maximum possible compensation for our clients. Just look at some of the Society Changing Judgments we’ve secured for our clients over the years.