A serious injury from a defective product reaches into every part of a person’s life, the medical bills, the time away from work, the lasting effects on what a person can do and enjoy. Florida law allows a full recovery for those losses when a defective product caused them, across several categories of damages. What a particular case is worth depends on the harm and the proof, and understanding the categories helps explain how these cases are valued and why an honest lawyer will not promise a number at the outset.
| Type of damages | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Economic | Medical care, rehabilitation, lost income, and lost earning capacity |
| Non-economic | Pain, suffering, disability, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life |
| Punitive | In cases of gross negligence or intentional misconduct, awarded to punish and to deter |
Comparative fault under section 768.81 can reduce an award by the share of responsibility assigned to the injured person.
Economic and noneconomic damages
Florida recognizes two broad categories of compensatory damages. Economic damages are the losses with a price tag: past and future medical care, the cost of rehabilitation and long-term care, lost income, lost earning capacity when an injury changes what a person can do for a living, and property damage. In the most serious cases, a life care plan prepared by qualified professionals projects what a lifetime of care will cost. Noneconomic damages cover the harm that has no receipt but is just as real: the pain, the suffering, the disability and disfigurement, and the loss of the ability to enjoy life the way you did before. Together, these categories are meant to account for the full weight of what a defective product took from you.
Punitive damages for egregious conduct
Most product cases are about compensating the injured person, and punitive damages are not part of them. But product liability is one area where punitive damages sometimes come into play, because these cases can involve a company that knew a product was dangerous and sold it anyway. Where the conduct rises to that level, Florida allows punitive damages, which are meant to punish and deter rather than to compensate. They require clearing a legal gate before they can even be pleaded, and they are subject to the state’s separate rules and limits. They are the exception, not the rule, but where a manufacturer’s own records show it understood a danger and chose profit over safety, they can be an important part of holding the company accountable.
How comparative fault affects your recovery
Florida applies comparative fault to product cases, and it directly affects what a case is worth. If the injured person is found partly responsible, for misusing the product or ignoring a clear warning, the recovery is reduced by that share of fault, and past a certain threshold it can be barred entirely. This is why manufacturers so often argue misuse: shifting even part of the responsibility onto the injured person lowers what they have to pay. Answering that argument, by showing the product was used as intended or in a foreseeable way and that the defect caused the harm, is not just about liability. It is about protecting the value of the case.
How the value of a case is determined
The value of a product case comes from the harm and the proof: how severe and permanent the injury is, what future care will cost, what earnings were lost, the strength of the evidence that the product was defective, and how clearly that defect caused the injury. It does not come from a formula, and it never comes from a promise on the first phone call. Any lawyer who guarantees you a number before the product is examined, the records are obtained, and the experts have weighed in is not being straight with you. What I can commit to is building the case to show the full extent of what this has cost you and pursuing every dollar the evidence supports.
Who pays to build the case
Building a product case against a manufacturer takes real resources, the experts, the engineering analysis, the investigation, and one of the most common questions injured people have is who pays for all of it. In these cases, those costs are advanced rather than paid by you, and the fee is handled on a contingency basis, which means you do not pay attorney’s fees unless there is a recovery. This is one of the reasons these cases are built with a team, so that the resources needed to take on a well-funded company are there from the start.
The permanent and future nature of many product injuries
Product injuries are frequently severe and lasting, burns, amputations, brain and spinal injuries, and other harm that changes a person’s life permanently. That reality shapes the damages, because the largest losses are often the ones still to come: a lifetime of medical care, the income a person can no longer earn, and the daily limitations they will live with. Capturing those future losses accurately, rather than settling for what is visible today, is a central part of the work in a serious product case, and it is why the analysis of future medical needs and lost earning capacity is done with qualified professionals rather than guesswork.
Why these cases take a team, and why my background fits
Presenting the full extent of a person’s losses, and standing up to a manufacturer’s effort to minimize them, takes investment and courtroom experience. I represent injured people, not manufacturers or insurers, and I take these cases on together with experienced co-counsel who focus on this work, pairing my trial and cross-examination experience with their resources. I handle your case personally, I came up trying cases as a public defender, and I am prepared to put your case in front of a jury, because the willingness to try a case is often what it takes to secure fair value. Learn more about my background.
Common Questions
What can I recover in a Florida product liability case?
Economic damages such as past and future medical care, lost income, and lost earning capacity, and noneconomic damages for pain, suffering, disability, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life. Where a product caused a death, the family may recover for their own losses through a wrongful death claim.
Are punitive damages available?
Sometimes. Punitive damages are reserved for especially egregious conduct, such as a company knowingly selling a product it understood to be dangerous, and they require clearing a legal gate before they can be pleaded. They are the exception, not part of an ordinary case, but where the conduct supports them they can be significant.
How does fault affect my recovery?
Florida applies comparative fault, so if you are found partly responsible, your recovery is reduced by your share of fault, and past a certain threshold it can be barred entirely. Manufacturers frequently argue misuse to shift blame, which is why answering that argument matters to the value of the case.
How is the value of a product case determined?
By the harm and the proof, not by a formula and never by a promise on the first call. The severity and permanence of the injury, the cost of future care, lost earnings, and the strength of the liability evidence all drive value. Any lawyer who guarantees a number early is not being straight with you.
Who pays the costs of building the case?
In these cases the costs of experts, investigation, and analysis are advanced rather than paid by you, and fees are handled on a contingency basis, so you do not pay attorney’s fees unless there is a recovery. Building a case against a manufacturer takes real resources, which is why it is done with a team.
This page is general information about Florida product liability law, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. The governing authorities include Florida’s strict product liability doctrine, adopted in West v. Caterpillar Tractor Co., 336 So. 2d 80 (Fla. 1976), and reaffirmed in Aubin v. Union Carbide Corp., 177 So. 3d 489 (Fla. 2015), the comparative fault statute in section 768.81, the two-year limitations period in section 95.11(5)(a), and the twelve-year statute of repose in section 95.031. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.
