Use a product liability attorney, not just the company’s 1-800 customer service number.
The Special Forces Unit vs. the Customer Service Hotline
Calling a company’s 1-800 number after their faulty product burns down your house is like calling a hostile nation’s tourist hotline to report an act of war. They are not equipped, nor are they willing, to help you. A product liability attorney is your Special Forces unit. They are the highly trained, expert team you send in to conduct a covert operation, to gather intelligence, and to hold the powerful, well-defended corporate entity accountable for the damage they have caused. You need a warrior, not a tour guide.
Stop throwing away the defective product. Do preserve it in its post-incident condition as your most crucial piece of evidence instead.
The Murder Weapon in a Homicide Case
Imagine a detective arrives at a homicide scene, and the first thing he does is throw the murder weapon into the city incinerator. The case would be impossible to solve. The defective product that caused your fire or injury is that murder weapon. It is the single most important and irreplaceable piece of evidence in your entire case. You must preserve it exactly as it was, in a secure location, so your own experts can perform a forensic autopsy to determine exactly how and why it killed your property.
Stop just blaming the store where you bought it. Do understand that the manufacturer, distributor, and retailer can all be held liable under “strict liability” instead.
The Entire Supply Chain Is on the Hook
When you are served a poisoned meal at a restaurant, you don’t just blame the waiter. You can also blame the chef, the person who supplied the meat, and the farm where it was raised. The legal concept of “strict liability” is the same for a defective product. Every single link in the commercial chain—from the giant manufacturer in another country to the local hardware store where you bought it—can be held legally responsible for the damage it caused. You can sue the entire supply chain.
The #1 secret to a successful product liability claim is to secure the product before the manufacturer can “inspect” it and have it disappear.
Don’t Let the Suspect Take the Evidence Back to His Lab
The manufacturer will offer to “helpfully” take the defective product back to their lab for a “free inspection.” This is the #1 trick in their playbook. It is the legal equivalent of letting the prime suspect in a murder case take the evidence back to his own, private laboratory. The evidence will be altered, “lost,” or will come back with a convenient report that says it was your fault. You must secure the product and never let it out of your sight until your own expert has inspected it first.
I’m just going to say it: The company that made the faulty appliance that burned down your house has a team of engineers and lawyers dedicated to proving it wasn’t their fault.
The Corporate “Dream Team” Assembled Against You
The moment your claim is reported, the manufacturer assembles their legal “dream team.” This is a group of highly paid, specialized engineers and product liability lawyers whose one and only job is to create a scientific and legal argument that proves their product was perfect and you were the one who was negligent. You are a lone individual, facing a corporate-funded, expert team that has handled thousands of these cases. You are David, and you are facing a very well-prepared Goliath.
The reason your claim is being denied is because you can’t prove the product was defective when it left the manufacturer’s control.
The Pristine, Factory-Sealed Box
To win a product liability case, you must be able to trace the “defect” all the way back to the factory. It is like proving that a bottle of medicine was poisoned before it was sealed, not after you opened it. The manufacturer will try to argue that something else happened to the product after it left their control—it was damaged in shipping, it was installed improperly, or you misused it. You must have an expert who can prove the flaw was baked in at the factory, before the box was ever sealed.
If you’re still trying to repair the defective product, you’re losing (spoliating) the evidence.
The Mechanic Who “Fixes” the Evidence Before the Cops Arrive
Imagine you are in a car wreck, and before the police arrive, you and the other driver get out your tools and start hammering out the dents. This is called “spoliation of evidence.” When you try to “fix” the toaster that started the fire, you are destroying the very evidence that your expert needs to prove how and why it failed. You are contaminating the crime scene. You must resist the urge to tinker with it. The product must be preserved exactly as it was at the moment of the failure.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you can’t have a claim if you were using the product incorrectly, especially if the misuse was foreseeable.
The Chair That Should Survive Being Leaned On
A manufacturer has a duty to anticipate how a real person might misuse their product. If they design a kitchen chair that will shatter if a person leans back on it, they can be held liable. Why? Because it is a “foreseeable misuse.” A reasonable person knows that people will sometimes lean back in their chairs. The misuse was predictable, and they had a duty to design a chair that was strong enough to withstand it. The question is not just “did you misuse it,” but “should they have seen it coming?”
I wish I knew about the “statute of repose,” which can bar a claim after a certain number of years, even if the product was clearly defective.
The Legal Expiration Date on a Product’s Sins
A “statute of limitations” is a clock that starts ticking when you get injured. A “statute of repose” is a much more dangerous clock. It is a final, absolute expiration date on the product itself. The clock starts ticking the moment the product is manufactured. If a state has a 10-year statute of repose, and your 11-year-old, clearly defective furnace explodes, your right to sue has been permanently extinguished. The product’s legal life has expired, and the company is off the hook forever.
99% of people make this one mistake: they don’t take photos of the product, its serial number, and the surrounding scene immediately after the incident.
The Crime Scene Photos That Tell the Whole Story
In the chaotic moments after a product fails, you are the first detective on the scene. Taking photos is the most important thing you can do. You are not just taking pictures of the broken product; you are documenting the entire crime scene. You need photos of the warning labels, the serial number plate, the outlet it was plugged into, and the surrounding damage. This collection of images is the visual story of the incident, a time capsule of the evidence before it is cleaned up and lost forever.
Use an expert engineer to create a failure analysis report, not just your own opinion about what happened.
The Autopsy Report vs. the Eyewitness’s Guess
Your opinion on why the product failed is just a guess. It is the emotional testimony of a traumatized eyewitness. To win a product liability case, you need a formal, scientific autopsy report. An expert engineer is the medical examiner for your broken product. They will conduct a detailed “failure analysis,” and their formal, written report will be the scientific, unbiased evidence that explains the exact cause of death. A judge will listen to a scientist; they will not listen to a guess.
Stop just claiming for the damaged product. Do claim for all the “consequential damages” it caused, like the fire, water damage, or personal injury, instead.
The Faulty Spark Plug and the Entire Burned-Down House
The defective product is just the spark plug that started the fire. The manufacturer might offer to refund you the $20 for the faulty toaster. This is an insult. The true claim is not for the spark plug; it is for the entire house that it burned down. You must claim for all the “consequential damages”—the cost to rebuild your home, to replace your belongings, and to pay for your medical bills from the smoke inhalation. The claim is for the fire, not the toaster.
Stop thinking a product recall protects the company from liability. Do understand it’s often an admission that the product was defective, instead.
The Public Confession That They Sold a Dangerous Product
A company issues a recall and offers to fix your product for free. This is not an act of kindness that shields them from a lawsuit. It is often a public confession. It is a formal, legally significant admission to the entire world that they know their product is defective and dangerous. That recall notice is a powerful piece of evidence that your lawyer will use as Exhibit A to prove that the company knew they had a problem, and it makes your case much, much stronger.
The #1 hack for proving a defect is to find evidence of “substantially similar incidents” from other consumers.
The Chorus of Voices That Proves You’re Not Crazy
When you make a claim, the company will try to make you feel like you are the only person in the world this has ever happened to. They will say, “We’ve never seen this before.” The #1 hack is to find the other voices in the chorus. Your lawyer can use legal discovery and online research to find dozens of “substantially similar incidents” from other consumers who had the exact same failure. This proves the problem is not your fault; it is a systemic defect in their product.
I’m just going to say it: Your homeowner’s insurance will pay for the fire damage, then they will subrogate against the product manufacturer.
The Two Corporate Giants Who Will Fight the Real War
When your house burns down, you are not the one who will be fighting the giant, multi-national corporation that made the faulty dishwasher. Your own homeowner’s insurance company will be the one to do that. They will pay your claim to rebuild your house, and then their army of lawyers will go to war with the manufacturer’s army of lawyers to get their money back. This is “subrogation.” You are just the catalyst for a massive, invisible, and incredibly expensive battle between two corporate giants.
The reason your case is weak is because you can’t establish a clear “chain of custody” for the defective product.
The Evidence Bag That Has a Hole in It
The “chain of custody” is the legal, documented trail that accounts for the evidence from the moment of the crime. It is the sealed evidence bag. If you cannot prove who has had the defective product and what has been done to it since the incident, the other side will argue that the evidence has been contaminated. They will say that someone else could have altered or damaged the product after the fact. A broken chain of custody is a hole in your evidence bag, and it can destroy your entire case.
If you’re still not saving the product’s original packaging and instructions, you’re losing evidence for a “failure to warn” claim.
The Missing Warning Label on the Bottle of Poison
Sometimes, a product is dangerous not because it is broken, but because the company failed to warn you about a hidden danger. This is a “marketing defect.” The original box, the instruction manual, and the warning labels are the key pieces of evidence in this type of case. If you can show that the instructions were unclear or that the warnings were inadequate, you can prove the company failed in its duty to inform you of the risks. Without the packaging, you have thrown away the proof.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that the “warranty” is your only remedy.
The Small, In-Store Credit vs. the Full Cash Refund
A warranty is a limited, contractual promise. It’s like an in-store credit that is only good for a replacement product. But if that defective product caused a massive amount of “consequential damage”—if your new phone exploded and burned down your house—you are not limited to the warranty. You have a separate, and much more powerful, legal claim called a “tort” action. This is the claim for the full, cash value of the house fire, and it has nothing to do with the small, limited promises of the warranty.
I wish I knew the difference between a “manufacturing defect,” a “design defect,” and a “marketing defect.”
The Bad Screw, the Bad Blueprint, and the Bad Instructions
There are three ways a product can be defective. A “manufacturing defect” is a single, bad screw in an otherwise good product. It’s a one-off mistake from the factory. A “design defect” is a bad blueprint. The entire line of products is dangerous because the design itself is flawed. A “marketing defect” is bad instructions. The product is fine, but the company failed to provide adequate warnings about a hidden danger. Knowing which of these three you are dealing with is the key to your legal strategy.
99% of people make this one mistake: they give a recorded statement to the manufacturer’s investigator without a lawyer present.
The Friendly “Investigator” Who Is Actually Their Lawyer in Disguise
After an incident, the manufacturer will send a friendly “investigator” or “engineer” to talk to you. This person is not a neutral scientist; they are a highly trained employee of the other side, and their job is to get you to say something that will hurt your case. They are, in effect, their lawyer in disguise. Giving them a recorded statement without your own attorney present is the equivalent of a key witness voluntarily walking into the opposing lawyer’s office to be interrogated, alone and unprotected.
Use the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) database to research other complaints about the product, not just your own experience.
The Government’s Secret File of Complaints
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is the government’s watchdog for dangerous products. And they have a powerful, public database that is like a secret file drawer of complaints. Before you even file a claim, you can search this database for the product that injured you. You may find dozens of other people who have had the exact same problem. This is an incredible source of free, powerful evidence that proves you are not alone and that the product has a known history of failures.
Stop letting the company blame you for “improper maintenance.” Do provide maintenance records to counter their claim instead.
The Perfect Maintenance Log of Your Prized Race Car
The company will always try to blame you. They will say their product only failed because you didn’t take care of it. This is the “improper maintenance” defense. The way to defeat it is with a perfect maintenance log. Your file of receipts from your annual service appointments, or your own, dated log of when you cleaned the filters, is the ultimate proof. It shows a judge that you were a responsible owner who treated the product like a prized race car, and the failure was in the engine, not in the upkeep.
Stop assuming that because a product is old, you can’t make a claim.
The Time Bomb That Was Planted in the Factory
A product’s age is not, by itself, a defense. The key question is: was the defect there from the very beginning? If a product was built with a hidden, defective wire that was destined to fail, it is a ticking time bomb. It does not matter if that bomb takes one year or ten years to finally explode. The negligence and the defect happened back at the factory, the day the bomb was planted. The company is still responsible for the damage it eventually causes.
The #1 secret is that a company’s internal documents (emails, memos, test results) can be a goldmine of evidence in a lawsuit.
The Secret, Smoking Gun Memo
The most powerful evidence in a product liability case is often the company’s own, secret, internal documents. Through the “discovery” process, your lawyer can get access to the emails between the engineers, the memos from the marketing department, and the original safety test results. This is where you find the “smoking gun”—the one, damning memo where an engineer warns his boss about a safety problem, but the company decides it is cheaper to ignore it. This is the evidence that wins multi-million dollar verdicts.
I’m just going to say it: Class action lawsuits for defective products rarely provide meaningful compensation for individuals who suffered significant property damage or injury.
The Coupon for a Free Pizza After Your House Burned Down
A class action lawsuit is when a lawyer gathers thousands of people who have had the same, minor problem with a product. It is a powerful tool for small injustices. But if you have suffered a major, catastrophic loss—a house fire, a serious injury—you must not join the class action. The settlement from that case will be the equivalent of a coupon for a free pizza. You need to file your own, individual lawsuit to get the full, multi-million dollar compensation needed to rebuild your burned-down house.
The reason your food poisoning claim is difficult is because you can’t prove that specific product was the source of the contamination.
The Scientific “Whodunit” in Your Stomach
A food poisoning claim is a scientific “whodunit.” It is not enough to say, “I ate the chicken and then I got sick.” You have to prove, with medical evidence, that the specific bacteria in your stomach is the exact same bacteria that was in that specific piece of chicken. Without a lab test of the leftover food, you are missing the “fingerprints” that tie the suspect to the crime scene. This is why these cases are so incredibly difficult to win without a widespread, confirmed outbreak.
If you’re still not seeking immediate medical attention after being injured by a product, you’re losing the link between the product and the injury.
The Unexplained Gap in the Timeline of Your Pain
You are injured by a product on Monday, but you decide to “tough it out” and you don’t go to the doctor until Friday. You have just created a giant, four-day hole in your case. The other side’s lawyer will argue that something else could have happened to you in that “unexplained gap” in the timeline. They will say you could have been injured somewhere else. Seeking immediate medical attention is the act of creating a time-stamped, official record that links the moment of your injury directly to the defective product.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you need the original receipt to prove you purchased the product.
The Credit Card Statement That Is Just as Good as the Receipt
A receipt is the best proof of purchase, but it is not the only proof. The law allows for other, equally valid evidence. A credit card statement that shows a purchase from that specific store on that date is a powerful piece of evidence. A witness, like a friend who was with you when you bought it, can provide a sworn statement. The original packaging, or even a photo of you using the product, can all be used to build a strong, circumstantial case that you were the owner.
I wish I knew that I could file a claim even if I wasn’t the one who bought the product.
The Law That Protects the User, Not Just the Buyer
The protections of product liability law are not just for the person who bought the item. They extend to any reasonably foreseeable “user” of that product. If your friend buys a defective power tool, and you are injured while borrowing it, you have a valid claim. If a defective car part causes an accident that injures a passenger, that passenger has a valid claim. The duty is owed not just to the customer, but to anyone who could be foreseeably harmed by the defective product.
This one small action of saving the recalled part from your car will change your ability to join a lawsuit later.
The Physical Evidence of the Crime
When you get a recall notice for your car, the dealership will replace the faulty part and then throw the old one in the trash. This is a huge mistake. That recalled part is the physical, tangible evidence of the defect. By asking the mechanic to put the old part in a box and give it to you, you are preserving the evidence. This one, small action gives you the “smoking gun” you might need later if you decide to join a class action lawsuit or file your own claim.
Use a Daubert or Frye hearing to challenge the qualifications of the manufacturer’s expert witness, not just accepting their testimony.
The Hearing to Decide if the “Expert” Is a Fraud
The manufacturer will hire a slick, highly paid “expert” who will give a scientific-sounding opinion that the product was perfect. But is he really an expert? A “Daubert” or “Frye” hearing is a special, pre-trial hearing where your lawyer gets to challenge the other side’s expert. It is a legal battle to prove to the judge that their “expert” is actually a fraud, that their scientific theory is just junk science, and that they should not be allowed to testify to the jury.
Stop thinking that because the product was a cheap import, you have no recourse. The importer and seller may be liable.
The Local Branch of the Foreign Corporation
The company that made the defective product might be a faceless corporation on the other side of the world. But the US-based “importer” who brought it into the country, the “distributor” who sold it to the store, and the “retailer” where you bought it are all local, accessible links in the chain. Under the law of “strict liability,” every one of these local companies can be held just as responsible as the foreign manufacturer. They are the local branch offices that you can sue.
Stop accepting the company’s offer of a coupon for a new product. Do demand compensation for the damage the old one caused instead.
The Coupon for a New Toaster After the Old One Burned Down Your House
A company’s first move will often be to offer you a coupon for a free, replacement product. This is not a settlement; it is an insult. It is like an arsonist offering you a new box of matches after he has burned your house to the ground. You must not be distracted by their tiny offer. The claim is not about the ten-dollar product; it is about the massive, consequential damage that it caused. You are owed a new house, not just a new toaster.
The #1 hack is to preserve not just the product, but any other evidence, like burnt circuit breakers or broken parts.
The Collateral Damage That Tells the Real Story
The defective product is the main character in the story. But the supporting actors are just as important. The burnt and tripped circuit breaker from your electrical panel is the proof of a massive power surge. The broken piece of the plastic housing that flew across the room is the proof of a violent failure. You must preserve not just the product, but all the collateral evidence from the “crime scene.” These supporting actors often tell a more complete and compelling story than the main character alone.
I’m just going to say it: The “state of the art” defense is a powerful tool manufacturers use to escape liability for old products.
“We Didn’t Know Any Better Back Then”
Imagine you are suing a car company from the 1950s for not having airbags. Their lawyer will use the “state of the art” defense. They will argue that it is unfair to judge a 1950s product by the safety standards of today. They will say that, based on the scientific knowledge that was available at the time, their product was perfectly safe. It is a powerful, and often successful, defense that says, “We are not responsible, because we didn’t know any better back then.”
The reason your case is being moved to federal court is a tactic called “removal” that the company is using to get a more favorable venue.
The Away Game on Their Favorite Field
You file your lawsuit in your local, friendly, state court. You have the home field advantage. But if the company is from another state, they have a legal right to “remove” the case to the big, impersonal, federal court. This is a classic, strategic tactic. They are taking you off of your home turf and forcing you to play an away game in a big, corporate-friendly stadium where the judges are less sympathetic and the rules are more complex.
If you’re still posting about the incident on social media, you’re giving the company’s lawyers ammunition to use against you.
The Public Diary of Your Own Mistakes
Your social media is a public diary. And the other side’s lawyers are reading it every single day. If you post angry, emotional rants about the company, they will use it to paint you as an unstable, unreasonable plaintiff. If you post pictures of you having a good time, they will use it to argue that your injuries are not that severe. Every single post is a free gift of ammunition that you are handing to the other side’s army, which they will then use to shoot holes in your case.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that you can’t sue a foreign company.
The Legal Tentacles That Can Reach Across the Ocean
A foreign company might seem like an untouchable ghost on the other side of the planet. But they are not. If that company deliberately does business in your state, they are subject to what is called “specific jurisdiction.” They have reached their corporate hand into your state to sell a product, and the law says that your state’s legal tentacles can now reach back across the ocean and pull them into your local courtroom. It is a complex process, but it is absolutely possible.
I wish I knew about alternative dispute resolution for product liability claims before starting a multi-year lawsuit.
The Peace Summit vs. the Ten-Year War
A product liability lawsuit can be a brutal, ten-year war that is emotionally and financially devastating for everyone involved. “Alternative Dispute Resolution,” like mediation, is a peace summit. It is a process where both sides agree to sit down with a neutral, third-party diplomat to try to negotiate a settlement. It is a faster, cheaper, and more private way to resolve a conflict, and it can save you from the scorched-earth consequences of a decade-long legal battle.
99% of people make this one mistake: they trust the company’s “investigator” is there to help them.
The Wolf Who Shows Up in a Fireman’s Uniform
When the company’s investigator shows up, he will be friendly, empathetic, and will say all the right things. He will look like he is there to help. He is not. He is a wolf, dressed in a fireman’s uniform. His one and only job is to gather evidence that will help his company defeat your claim. He is a trained professional in the art of gaining your trust and getting you to say things that will be used against you. He is not a rescuer; he is the other side’s first spy.
Use the legal theory of “res ipsa loquitur” (the thing speaks for itself), not just direct evidence, when a defect is obvious.
The Case of the Exploding Soda Bottle
Sometimes, you don’t need a fancy expert to prove a product was defective. The legal doctrine of “res ipsa loquitur” means “the thing speaks for itself.” It applies to accidents that could not have possibly happened unless someone was negligent. A brand-new soda bottle that explodes in your hand is a perfect example. You don’t need an engineer to explain it. The very fact that it happened is, in itself, the proof of the defect. The thing speaks for itself.
Stop letting them argue that their product met all government safety standards. Do understand that those are minimum standards, not a shield from liability, instead.
The Passing Grade That Is Still a “C Minus”
A company will argue that because their product met the government’s safety standards, they cannot be held liable. This is a weak defense. Those government standards are not a gold seal of approval; they are the bare, absolute minimum required to get a passing grade. They are a “C minus.” You can still argue that a reasonably safe product should have been built to a much higher, “A plus” standard. The government’s floor is not the ceiling of safety.
Stop thinking you need to prove the company was negligent. In strict liability cases, you only need to prove the product was defective and caused harm.
The Law That Doesn’t Care About the “Why”
In a normal “negligence” case, you have to prove the other person did something wrong. But in a “strict liability” case, you do not. The law does not care about how or why the company made a mistake. It is a simpler, more powerful argument. You only have to prove three things: the product was defective, the defect existed when it left the factory, and the defect caused your injury. You do not have to prove what the company did wrong; you just have to prove their product was broken.
The #1 secret is that a successful product liability claim can lead to a recall that saves others from injury.
The Lawsuit That Is Also a Public Service Announcement
Your product liability lawsuit is not just about getting compensation for your own injury. It is a powerful public service announcement. It is a bright, flashing red light that alerts the company and the government to a dangerous product. A single, successful lawsuit can be the catalyst that forces a nationwide recall, which can prevent hundreds, or even thousands, of other people from suffering the same, or an even worse, fate. Your personal fight can become a victory for public safety.
I’m just going to say it: The warning labels on products are written by lawyers to protect the company, not to protect you.
The Legal Shield Disguised as a Helpful Hint
That giant, complicated warning label on your ladder is not a helpful, friendly safety tip from the manufacturer. It is a carefully crafted legal shield that was written by a team of their corporate lawyers. Every single word on that label is designed for one purpose: to protect the company from a lawsuit by allowing them to say, “We warned you.” It is not a user’s manual; it is a legal document, and its primary customer is a judge, not you.
The reason your case is so expensive is because of the high cost of expert witness fees.
The Battle of the High-Priced, Hired Armies
A product liability case is a battle of the experts. It is a high-tech war, fought by two, opposing armies of highly paid, professional engineers, scientists, and doctors. These expert witnesses are the expensive, hired guns who will write the reports and provide the testimony that will win or lose the case. Their fees can run into the tens, or even hundreds, of thousands of dollars, and they are the single biggest reason why these cases are so incredibly expensive to litigate.
If you’re still not documenting your injuries with photos, you’re losing the most compelling evidence of your damages.
The Gruesome, Visual Proof of Your Pain
A doctor’s report will describe your injury with cold, clinical language. A photograph of your injury is the gruesome, emotional, and incredibly compelling proof of your pain and suffering. A series of photos, showing the fresh wound, the stitches, the infection, and the final, permanent scar, is a visual diary of your ordeal. In front of a jury, a single, powerful photograph is worth a thousand pages of dry, medical records. It is the evidence they will not be able to forget.
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that signing up for a warranty registration limits your right to sue.
The Marketing Survey That Has No Legal Power
That warranty registration card you get with a new product is not a legal contract; it is a marketing survey. The company is using it to get your name and address for their mailing list. It has absolutely no impact on your legal rights. Your right to sue for a defective product is a right that is granted to you by the law (a “tort”), and it cannot be signed away in a small, fine-print clause on a marketing postcard. You are not waiving your rights; you are just signing up for junk mail.
I wish I knew that my own health insurance company would have a lien on my product liability settlement.
The Silent Partner Who Shows Up at the End to Take Their Cut
You win a big settlement from the product manufacturer. But you are not the only one who gets paid. Your own health insurance company, who has been paying your medical bills all along, is a silent partner in your lawsuit. They have a legal “subrogation lien,” which means they have the right to show up at the very end of the case and take their cut of the money first. They must be paid back for every dollar they spent on your medical care before you see a penny.
This one small action of checking for recalls before you buy a major appliance will change your family’s safety forever.
The Five-Minute Background Check on Your New Roommate
Buying a new appliance is like getting a new roommate who will be living with your family for the next ten years. This one, simple action of going to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s website (CPSC.gov) and doing a five-minute “background check” on that product is the most important safety step you can take. It will tell you if this new roommate has a hidden history of violence or a dangerous, criminal past. It is the simplest and most powerful way to protect your family from a defective product.