Product Liability Settlement Calculator, from your losses, your share of fault and your state's rules.

The claim is about the product, not about how carefully anyone behaved on the day. It turns on what was wrong with the product: a fault in how one unit was made, a fault in the design every unit shares, or a failure to warn about a risk the product carried. Which of these a state recognizes, and what has to be shown for each, is set by that state's law, and none of it is stated on this page as a rule.

The company that made the product is the first business a claim looks at. A maker of a component, a distributor, an importer and the store that sold it can also be part of the chain that brought the product to you, and whether a claim can reach each of them is set by the state's law too. The questions on this page are the ones that decide whether the claim is still open at all: the filing period and the statute of repose.

A product claim is priced the way any injury claim is: the medical bills and lost pay the injury caused, a figure for pain and suffering, a reduction for your own share of fault where your state applies one, and then the fees, costs and liens that come out of a recovery. That is what the calculator above does. It does not add anything for the kind of product or the kind of defect, because no source behind this page says what either is worth.

A state's general filing period is the one an injury claim runs on where no other provision applies. Some states also write a separate period for a claim about a product. Where both exist, they are not always the same length, and which one governs a particular product claim is a question of that state's law that this page does not decide.

So the calculator shows the shorter of the two, counted from the date of the injury. In Alabama, Minnesota and Utah, the separate period for product claims is shorter than the general one, and it is the one shown. In Connecticut and Florida, it is longer, and the page shows the general period, with the longer one named beside it, because which of the two governs a product claim was not established for this page. Where the two are the same length, that length is shown.

For eleven jurisdictions, whether a separate period for product claims exists was not established for this page: the provisions read are named in the panel, and a shorter period there is not ruled out. The panel says so for each of them, and the calculator's result says it too.

The calculator counts from the date of the injury. A provision can start the clock later, for example when the injury was discovered, and this page does not apply that, so it never counts a later start for you.

The filing period starts when you are hurt. A statute of repose can start years earlier, when the product was first sold or delivered, and it can end a claim before the injury ever happens, or before the filing period runs out. It never lengthens the filing period.

That is why the date you bought the product matters. An old appliance and a new one can cause the same injury, and the claim about the old one may be closed by a repose that the new one is far inside. The calculator cannot count a repose, because it cannot know when the product was sold, so the result says where one was quoted and the panel quotes it with any exceptions the same provisions state.

For thirteen jurisdictions, whether a statute of repose applies to a product claim was not established for this page, and the panel names the provisions read. Where no repose was found in the provisions read, the panel says that too, and that is not a finding that none exists.

Keep the product as it was when it hurt you. Do not repair it, use it again, return it to the store or send it to the maker, even if someone offers a replacement. Keep any broken pieces together. If it has to be moved, photograph it first, where it was and how it was.

Keep everything that came with it: the box, the instructions, the warning labels, the receipt or order confirmation, and any registration card. Write down where and when you bought it, and the model and serial numbers. These say which product it was and when it was sold, and the date of sale is what a statute of repose counts from.

Then keep the record of the injury: photographs of your injuries over time, every medical record and bill, your pay records for the time you missed, and the names of anyone who saw what happened. Write down what happened while you remember it.

A recall notice names the product, what the maker or the agency said was wrong with it, and the date. Keep it with the product and your records. If the product that hurt you was recalled, note the date of the notice and whether you received it.

This page does not treat a recall as deciding a claim either way, and the calculator does not use it. Whether a recall can be used as evidence in a claim is a question of the state's law. A recall does not stop the filing period or the statute of repose, and a product can hurt someone without ever being recalled.

Some provisions are written for one kind of product. Where the provisions read for this page name one, the panel says so, and for that kind of product it treats a separate period or a statute of repose as not ruled out rather than as absent.

In Colorado, Hawaii and Kentucky, the state also has a separate filing period written for motor-vehicle claims. Whether it reaches a claim about a defective vehicle or vehicle part was not established for this page, so the page shows the period it shows for any product and the panel says the other one exists, with its length and its citation.

A claim about a drug can raise questions about when the injury was discovered and what the label said that a claim about a ladder does not. This site has a separate page on the GLP-1 drug lawsuits, with a deadline tool that reads the same provisions for a drug injury.

Your own share of fault reduces what you recover, and in some states a high enough share bars the claim. The calculator lets you set that share yourself and assumes none because of how the product was used.

How a state treats a product used in a way its maker did not intend, a warning that was not followed, or a product someone changed after it was sold, is a question of that state's law, and none of it is stated here. If the maker or an insurer says the injury was your fault, that is a question for a lawyer in your state.

The questions on this page are the ones that decide whether a product claim is still open, and each is answered by your state's own law: which filing period governs, whether a statute of repose has already run, and whether an exception applies. A lawyer who handles product cases in your state can answer them for your facts, and can say who in the chain of sale can be named. Bring the product or its photographs, the packaging and receipt, the dates of the purchase and the injury, your medical and pay records, and the provisions the panel quotes.