Costly 2018 recalls prove the need for product liability insurance

Once a product fails, any business partner along its manufacturing and distribution chain can be liable.

Shigehisa Takada, chairman and chief executive officer of Takata Corp., attends a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, on Mon., June 26, 2017. Takata filed for bankruptcy protection in the biggest corporate failure in postwar Japanese manufacturing, after liabilities from millions of recalled air bags became too much for the firm to bear. (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg)

One common misconception about product liability insurance is that only manufacturers need to worry about being sued as the result of a faulty product.

In fact, any business partners along a product’s manufacturing and distribution chain — including parts suppliers, distributors and retailers — can be held responsible in the eyes of the law should an individual or group of people successfully prove in court that they were injured by a particular product.

The graphic below from the February 2019 issue of National Underwriter Property & Casualty magazine illustrates how businesses need product liability insurance more than ever.

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