Some deaths happen in an instant because something that was supposed to be safe was not: an airbag that did not deploy, a machine without a working guard, a space heater that caught fire, a medical device that failed inside the body. Families are often left with the product itself, a set of questions, and a manufacturer with far more resources than they have. We are sorry for your loss.

In Ohio, these cases are governed by a specific statute, the Ohio Products Liability Act, and by deadlines that can bar a claim even before anyone was hurt. This page explains how product cases work and what families can do right away.

How defective product deaths happen

Product deaths come from many sources, but certain categories recur:

  • Vehicles and vehicle parts, including tires, airbags, seat belts, fuel systems, and roof structures that fail in a crash. Our page on car crash deaths covers the crash side of these cases.
  • Industrial machinery and tools without adequate guards or safety interlocks. Many of these deaths happen at work; see our page on workplace deaths.
  • Household products, including heaters, appliances, furniture that tips over, and products with dangerous batteries.
  • Prescription drugs and medical devices.
  • Recreational products, such as boats, ATVs, and helmets.

What the investigation must capture

The single most important step in a product case is preserving the product. Ohio law requires proof that the defendant's actual product was defective and caused the death. R.C. 2307.73(A). If the product is lost, repaired, or crushed, that proof becomes much harder. The statute does allow circumstantial evidence when the product was destroyed or direct evidence is otherwise unavailable, R.C. 2307.73(B), but no family should have to rely on that if it can be avoided.

Practical steps:

  • Do not let a vehicle be salvaged or released to an insurer before it has been inspected and its event data recorder downloaded.
  • Keep the product, its packaging, manuals, and receipts, and do not try to test or take it apart.
  • Identify every component maker. A failed part may have been made by a different company than the finished product.
  • Look for recalls, complaints, and similar incidents involving the same model.
  • Collect the medical and autopsy records that tie the injury to the failure. Our guide chapter on the first weeks after a sudden death explains how to preserve evidence and records early.

Ohio rules specific to product cases

The Ohio Products Liability Act

Ohio's Products Liability Act, R.C. 2307.71 to 2307.80, governs claims against manufacturers and suppliers for death or injury caused by a product. The General Assembly stated that the Act is "intended to abrogate all common law product liability claims," so these cases must be brought under the statute. R.C. 2307.71(B). When the product claim is part of a wrongful death action, the personal representative asserts it on behalf of the family. R.C. 2307.71(A)(1)(b).

A manufacturer is liable if the family proves that its product was defective in one of four ways, that the defect was a proximate cause of the death, and that the manufacturer made the actual product involved. R.C. 2307.73(A). The four types of defect are:

  1. Manufacturing defect. The product deviated in a material way from its own design or from identical units. A manufacturer can be liable even if it "exercised all possible care." R.C. 2307.74.
  2. Design defect. The foreseeable risks of the design exceeded its benefits, considering factors such as the magnitude of the risk, consumer expectations, and whether a safer alternative design was feasible. A product is not defectively designed if no practical and technically feasible alternative design was available. R.C. 2307.75.
  3. Inadequate warning or instruction, either when the product was sold or afterward, when the manufacturer learned or should have learned of a risk and failed to give the warning a reasonable manufacturer would have given. There is no duty to warn of an open and obvious risk. R.C. 2307.76.
  4. Failure to conform to a representation the manufacturer made about the product's character, quality, or safety. R.C. 2307.77.

Sellers and other suppliers

A supplier, such as a retailer or distributor, is generally liable if it was negligent or if the product failed to match the supplier's own representation. R.C. 2307.78(A). A supplier can be held liable as if it were the manufacturer in specific situations, including when the manufacturer cannot be brought into an Ohio court, is insolvent, is owned by or owns the supplier, when the supplier sold the product under its own label or altered it, or when the supplier failed to respond to a written request to identify the manufacturer. R.C. 2307.78(B).

Punitive damages

Punitive damages are available only on clear and convincing evidence that the death resulted from misconduct showing "a flagrant disregard of the safety of persons who might be harmed by the product." A defect alone is not enough. R.C. 2307.80(A). Drug and device makers are generally shielded from punitive damages when the product complied with its FDA approval, unless they withheld or misrepresented material information to the agency, and similar rules apply to products that met applicable government safety standards. R.C. 2307.80(C) and (D).

Who may be responsible

Responsible parties can include the manufacturer of the finished product, the makers of defective components, the designer, distributors and retailers, companies that installed, repaired, or maintained the product, and, in some cases, people or companies whose negligence combined with the defect, such as an employer that removed a guard or a driver who caused the crash.

What insurance or funds may pay

Manufacturers and large retailers generally carry product liability insurance, often with substantial excess coverage, and some insure themselves. When the product is a vehicle, the family's own auto policy, including uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, may also be involved, depending on how the death happened.

What your family may recover

A product-based wrongful death claim allows the same compensatory damages as any wrongful death claim: lost support and services, loss of society and companionship, mental anguish, and funeral and burial expenses. R.C. 2125.02(C) and (D). A separate survival claim recovers for your loved one's own suffering before death. Our page on wrongful death compensation explains each category.

Deadlines, including the ten-year rule

The wrongful death action must be filed within two years after the death. R.C. 2125.02(F)(1). Product cases add a statute of repose: as a general rule, no wrongful death claim based on a product liability claim accrues against the manufacturer or supplier more than ten years after the product was delivered to its first purchaser or lessee who was not using it as a component in another product. R.C. 2125.02(F)(2)(a); see also R.C. 2305.10(C)(1). This rule can bar a claim even though the death happened recently, if the product is old.

The exceptions are limited. The ten-year rule does not apply if the manufacturer or supplier committed fraud about the product that contributed to the death, or made an express written safety warranty for more than ten years that had not expired. If the death occurs within the last two years of the ten-year period, the family still has two years from the death. Deaths from exposure to certain drugs, medical devices, chemicals, and asbestos follow special discovery-based rules. R.C. 2125.02(F)(2)(b) to (g).

In Groch v. Gen. Motors Corp., 2008-Ohio-546, a case brought by a worker injured by an industrial trim press, the Supreme Court of Ohio held that the product statute of repose is constitutional on its face, although it declined to apply the statute retroactively to that worker's particular facts. The court also upheld the statute that lets the workers' compensation system recover benefits from a third-party product case. Our page on Ohio wrongful death deadlines explains the general rules.

Common questions

The product was thrown away or the car was salvaged. Is the case over?

Not necessarily. Ohio allows circumstantial evidence of a defect when the product was destroyed. R.C. 2307.73(B). But the sooner a product is secured, the stronger the case, so act quickly.

Can we sue the store that sold it?

Sometimes. A seller is liable for its own negligence or its own representations, and it can be treated like the manufacturer in specific situations, such as when the manufacturer cannot be sued in Ohio or is insolvent.

The product was more than ten years old. Do we have a claim?

The ten-year statute of repose may bar a claim against the manufacturer, but there are exceptions for fraud, long safety warranties, and certain exposures, and other parties may still be responsible. Have the dates and documents reviewed.

Do we need to prove the company was careless?

Not for every type of claim. A manufacturing defect can create liability even if the manufacturer exercised all possible care. Design and warning claims turn on risks, benefits, and what the manufacturer knew or should have known.

Is there a recall? Does that matter?

A recall can be important evidence, but it is not required. Many defective products are never recalled, and a recall notice does not by itself prove what caused a particular death.

This article is general information about Ohio law, not legal advice about your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines and rules change; talk to a lawyer about your family's situation.