Houston Product Liability Lawyer
If you or a family member have been seriously injured or have sustained the loss of a loved one because of a product or device, you know how your needs and priorities can change quickly — it takes only an instant to be suddenly faced with serious injuries, mounting medical bills, loss of income and more.
Mithoff Law has decades of experience handling product liability cases. Richard Warren Mithoff and Mithoff Law have successfully handled more than several thousand cases over 50 years in nearly every area of personal injury, wrongful death and commercial litigation, including well in excess of more than several hundred cases taken to trial. Our reputation is widely known:
“Mithoff has been one of Houston’s most respected attorneys for decades, handling such high-profile cases as the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Enron-related litigation on behalf of JPMorgan/Chase and highly publicized bus and plant explosions.”
–Houston Chronicle, June 26, 2019
“Mithoff, a Houston personal injury lawyer, is no stranger to winning big payoffs for large groups of people. He negotiated a $2.3 billion settlement with the tobacco industry for Harris and other counties, and he won $80 million for residents of a nursing home who were killed in a 2005 bus explosion while fleeing Hurricane Rita.”
– Houston Chronicle, November 22, 2017
If you or a family member or friend are seriously injured as the result of defective product, you should seek out the names of one or more highly qualified trial lawyers who have successfully handled a significant number of these kinds of cases.
Your most trustworthy sources for such a referral may be a close friend, a colleague from work, a fellow parishioner from your church, or another lawyer who is a personal friend and who can give you an unbiased opinion about the best lawyer to consult.
Publicly reported verdicts and settlements, examples of which follow, reflect our approach to the trial and settlement of cases. Some of the more high-profile cases involving product liability were the subject of extensive news coverage, which very often include examples of the kind of evidence taken into account by the juries deciding these cases.
DISCLAIMER
Verdicts and settlements as reported in these multiple news sources reflect the amount of these verdicts and settlements at the time they were reported and do not necessarily reflect the amounts ultimately recovered by the parties and may not be representative of results in other similar cases.
Reported amounts will not reflect attorneys’ fees (typically up to a 40 percent contingent fee) or case expenses. Jury verdicts may have been settled pending an appeal for a lesser amount and may have been settled on a confidential basis by agreement of the parties as approved by the court.
Examples of Mithoff Law’s Prominent Cases
By choosing Mithoff Law, clients can rest assured that they’re working with one of the premier product liability law firms in the country. Recipient of several prestigious awards, founder Richard Mithoff has been twice designated among Forbes Top 10 Trial Lawyers in the United States. With more than 50 years of experience to his name, Mithoff and his team — all highly acclaimed their own right — have won a number of high-profile legal cases, including:
Liability of Silence (Detroit Free Press)
Files on Tires Recall Must Be Disclosed in Suit (Houston Chronicle)
Group Fights Firestone Motion (Houston Chronicle)
Trek Recalls 1M Bikes for Safety Issue
A Sense of Empathy – Harris County vs Volkswagen (Houston Chronicle)
Mithoff has been the subject of profiles in a number of publications, including:
- Texas Super Lawyers “Legends of the Law” (“notching hundreds of $1 million-plus personal injury and commercial verdicts and settlements;” “an uncanny ability to grasp the heart of a case and craft persuasive arguments to sway judges and juries”)
- Houston Chronicle “A Sense of Empathy” (“a sense of empathy has helped Mithoff become one of nation’s most successful trial attorneys;” “connecting with both judges and juries through his mild manner and straight-forward approach.”)
- Detroit Free Press “Liability of Silence” (“Beating big corporations with big verdicts made Richard Mithoff one of the country’s best-known product-liability attorneys.”)
- Houston Business Journal “Attorney Wins Cases for Causes in Trials by Fire” (“one of the state’s most prominent legal renegades”)
- The Texas Lawbook “Richard Mithoff: Million-Dollar Verdicts that Save Lives” (“wins the old fashion way–by out-thinking outworking and outperforming his opposition.”)
- Texas Super Lawyers “Straight Up and Unshaken” (“a master at connecting with a jury.”)
- Texas’ Best Lawyers “Richard Mithoff Fighting for an Emotionally Charged Verdict in Louisiana” (“one of the most emotionally challenging of his storied career.”)
- Lawyers Weekly USA “The Richest Small-Firm Lawyers in America” (“clients flock to Mithoff knowing he can get the job done quickly.”)
- Houston Press “Best Civil Attorney” (“legal dynamo developed his considerable skills, grace and guts under the best.”)
Mithoff has received a number of awards in recognition of his lifetime achievements, including:
- Texas Super Lawyers Top 10 in Texas
- University of Texas Distinguished Alumnus Award
- University of Texas Law School Lifetime Achievement Award
- Lifetime Excellence in Advocacy Award Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists (see tribute by Justice Tracy Christopher)
- Leon Green Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Legal Profession Texas Law Review (see tribute by former Chief Justice Tom Phillips)
- Professional Excellence Award, Lifetime Achiever — Texas Lawyer
- Lions of the Bar – The Texas Lawbook
- Champion of Justice Award – Texas Watch
- Chrys Dougherty “Good Apple Award” – Texas Appleseed
- Jurisprudence Award – Anti-Defamation League
Mithoff has been elected to fellowship in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, and the American Board of Trial Advocates.
We are dedicated to achieving the very best result in your case, whether by jury verdict or settlement. Attorneys with Mithoff Law have access to the best experts available, based on over 50 years of preparing cases for trial. We know how and when to consult engineers and experts who can reconstruct the facts of your case.
“Since he started practicing in 1974, his cases have helped produce reforms in hospital credentialing of physicians and reporting of physician misconduct; prompted medical manufacturers to pull defective products off the market; led hospitals to improve their use of post-surgical intravenous solutions; and triggered a manufacturer’s recall of defective tires.”
– Super Lawyers, September 15, 2021
Understanding strict liability and defective product claims
In Texas and many other states, product liability claims typically arise under what is known as strict liability, meaning that a product manufacturer can be held liable for injuries caused by a defective product under certain circumstances. These claims can differ from personal injury cases based on negligence.
Typical types of product liability cases in Texas
In order for strict liability to apply, you and your product liability lawyer must prove that a defect was present and that it contributed to your accident. There are three categories of product defects that can be used to establish manufacturer liability in an injury.
- Manufacturing defects: In Texas, a manufacturing defect typically refers to a product that deviates from its specifications in a way that makes the product unreasonably dangerous.
- Design defects: In Texas, a design defect typically refers to a condition of a product that renders it unreasonably dangerous as designed, taking into consideration the utility of the product and risks involved in its use. Generally, for a design defect to exist, there must have been a safer alternative design available that would have significantly reduced the risk of injury, and that was economically and technologically feasible at the time the product left the manufacturer.
- Warnings defects: In Texas, a warnings defect typically refers to a failure to give adequate warnings of a product’s dangers, which were either known or reasonably should have been known to the manufacturer. Product defects can manifest in all types of products, including power tools, automobiles, and medical devices. The experienced Product Liability attorneys at Mithoff Law can help evaluate any potential claims you may have.
We are dedicated to achieving the very best result in your case, whether by jury verdict or settlement. Attorneys with Mithoff Law have access to the best experts available, based on over 50 years of preparing cases for trial. We know how and when to consult engineers and experts who can reconstruct the facts of your case. Contact Mithoff Law for cases involving:
- Amputation
- Auto product liability
- Catastropic injury
- Defective products
- Neurological injuries (brain injuries)
- Paralysis
- Spinal cord injuries
- Wrongful death
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August 7, 2016
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