Tulsa Product Liability Lawyer

Most personal injury firms list product liability on their website. Very few have actually taken a manufacturer to trial over a dangerous product. We have.

Our founding attorney, Tye Smith, has spent over 30 years litigating product liability cases in Oklahoma — and he’s done something most attorneys never will. He’s forced major manufacturers to change how they design and build their products. Not with demand letters. With verdicts.

When a defective product injures someone, the manufacturer has corporate lawyers and insurance adjusters working to protect the bottom line. You need someone on your side who isn’t intimidated by that. That’s what we do. We protect the little guy against companies that put profits ahead of safety.

Call now for a free consultation. We don’t get paid unless you do.

Why Hire 222 Injury Lawyers for a Defective Product Case?

Product liability cases aren’t standard personal injury claims. They involve corporate defendants with in-house legal teams, insurance companies determined to pay as little as possible, and technical evidence that requires engineering analysis. You need an attorney who has done this before — and won.

Tye Smith has tried product liability cases across Oklahoma. He’s gone up against manufacturers, fought through discovery, deposed engineers, and taken these cases to verdict. Through his pursuit of product liability litigation, he has forced manufacturers to redesign dangerous products to protect consumers. Our father-son legal team has recovered over $80 million in verdicts and settlements across all practice areas.

Here’s what you get when you hire us:

Technical investigation from day one.

Product liability cases are won or lost on evidence. We work with product safety experts and engineers who examine the defective product, analyze design specs, review maintenance history, and determine exactly how and why the product failed.

Every liable party identified.

Oklahoma law allows claims against manufacturers, distributors, assemblers, retailers, and anyone in the supply chain who profited from putting a defective product into your hands. We trace liability through the entire chain.

Real trial preparation, not just negotiation.

Insurance companies know which attorneys actually take cases to trial. We are real trial attorneys, and insurers formulate their offers accordingly. When a fair settlement isn’t offered, we go to the courtroom.

“I have worked personally with Tye and Sheldon on multiple occasions in preparation for trial and oral advocacy competitions. I have never been short of impressed by their trial skills and client advocacy. If I was ever injured, they would be my first call.” — Hailey Moore

What Is Product Liability Under Oklahoma Law?

Oklahoma follows strict liability in product liability cases. Under Oklahoma Uniform Jury Instruction (OUJI) No. 12.2, a product is defective when it is not reasonably fit for the ordinary purposes for which it was intended or could reasonably be expected to be used.

What strict liability means for you: you do not have to prove the manufacturer was careless or negligent. You must prove three things:

1. The product was defective.
2. The defect made the product unreasonably dangerous.
3. The defect directly caused your injury.

This is a meaningful legal distinction. In a standard negligence case, you’d have to prove the manufacturer made a mistake. In a strict liability product case, you only need to prove the product was flawed and that flaw hurt you. Oklahoma courts have consistently held that anyone who uses, consumes, or could reasonably be affected by a product can bring a claim — including bystanders who didn’t purchase the product.

Three Types of Product Defects in Oklahoma

Under OUJI No. 12.2, a defect can arise from design, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, or warnings while the product was in the defendant’s control. Product liability claims in Oklahoma generally fall into three categories.

Design Defects

A design defect exists when the original design of a product is inherently flawed, making every unit manufactured under that design unreasonably dangerous — even when built exactly as intended. These are often the most impactful cases because they affect every consumer who purchased the product, and they frequently lead to product recalls.

Example: A space heater designed with inadequate ventilation that overheats and causes house fires during normal use.

Manufacturing Defects

A manufacturing defect occurs when an error during the production, assembly, or quality control process makes a specific product or production lot dangerous — even though the original design was sound. Poor welding, contaminated materials, substandard components, or assembly mistakes fall into this category.

Example: A batch of automotive brake pads made with a contaminated compound that fails under normal braking conditions.

Warning and Marketing Defects

A warning defect — also called a marketing defect or failure to warn — occurs when a manufacturer fails to provide adequate instructions for safe use or fails to warn consumers about known risks associated with the product.

Under OUJI No. 12.5, if a product poses risks during normal or reasonably anticipated use, and those risks aren’t obvious to an ordinary user, the manufacturer must provide clear warnings. A product with an adequate warning that is safe when used as directed is not considered defective. But when warnings are missing, incomplete, or buried, the manufacturer bears responsibility for resulting injuries.

Example: A prescription medication with known side effects that are not disclosed on packaging or communicated to prescribing physicians.

What Types of Defective Products Cause Injuries in Oklahoma?

Oklahoma’s economy exposes workers and consumers to a wide range of products that cause catastrophic harm when they fail. Our Tulsa product liability attorneys handle cases involving:

Oilfield and Industrial Equipment

Oklahoma is one of the top oil-producing states in the country, with roughly 200 active drilling rigs operating at any given time. Defective tongs, valves, derricks, pressure vessels, blowout preventers, and safety equipment cause explosions, crush injuries, amputations, severe burns, and fatalities across the state.

If defective equipment caused your oilfield injury, you may have a product liability claim against the manufacturer in addition to any workers’ compensation benefits through your employer. The product liability claim is a separate third-party action that can recover compensation workers’ comp does not pay — including full lost wages (not just 70%), pain and suffering, and punitive damages. You can pursue both claims at the same time. More on this distinction below.

Defective Vehicles and Auto Parts

Faulty brakes, defective tires, malfunctioning airbags, failed steering systems, defective seatbelts, and flawed ignition systems cause or worsen car accidents and truck accidents across Oklahoma. If a vehicle defect contributed to your collision, the parts manufacturer or vehicle manufacturer may owe you compensation beyond what the at-fault driver’s insurance covers.

We have extensive experience with commercial vehicle accident cases and understand how equipment defects interact with driver negligence claims.

Dangerous Consumer Products

Household appliances that catch fire. Power tools that malfunction. Children’s toys with detachable parts that become choking hazards. Defective electronics that overheat or explode. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued over 420 recall announcements in 2025 — the highest total in nearly two decades. Over 83 million hazardous products were recalled in 2024 alone, linked to hundreds of injuries, dozens of deaths, and more than 500 fires.

If a recalled or defective consumer product hurt you or your family, you have grounds for a claim.

Defective Medical Devices and Pharmaceuticals

Hip and knee implants, surgical mesh, pacemakers, insulin pumps, and prescription medications that cause harm the manufacturer knew about or should have discovered during testing. Pharmaceutical product liability cases often become class actions or multidistrict litigation, but individual claims may recover more. We can advise whether joining existing litigation or filing your own claim is the better path.

Farm and Agricultural Equipment

Defective tractors, combines, PTO equipment, grain augers, and hydraulic systems cause severe and often fatal injuries across rural Oklahoma. Equipment manufacturers must ensure their products are safe when used as intended and must provide adequate warnings about known hazards. When they fail, injured agricultural workers and their families have the right to pursue compensation.

Construction Equipment and Power Tools

Defective scaffolding, nail guns, saws, ladders, cranes, and fall protection equipment injure Oklahoma construction workers regularly. When equipment failure causes a workplace accident, the manufacturer can be held liable through a product liability claim even when the employer is protected by workers’ compensation immunity.

Who Can Be Held Liable for a Defective Product in Oklahoma?

Oklahoma law holds every party in a product’s supply chain potentially responsible for injuries caused by defective products. This includes:

• The product manufacturer — the company that designed and/or built the product
• Component part manufacturers — companies that made individual parts incorporated into the final product
• Distributors and wholesalers — companies that moved the product through the supply chain
• Retailers — stores or online sellers that sold the product to consumers

Under Oklahoma’s product liability statutes, a seller generally cannot be held liable for a defect they didn’t create — unless the seller had control over the product’s design, testing, manufacturing, packaging, or labeling, or unless the manufacturer cannot otherwise be held liable. We investigate the entire supply chain to identify every responsible party and maximize your recovery.

What Compensation Can You Recover?

If a defective product injured you, Oklahoma law allows you to pursue:

Economic damages — medical expenses (emergency treatment, surgery, hospitalization, rehabilitation, future care), lost wages, lost future earning capacity, out-of-pocket costs, and property damage.

Non-economic damages — physical pain, emotional distress, mental anguish, disfigurement, disability, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of companionship.

Punitive damages — in cases where the manufacturer acted with reckless disregard for consumer safety or intentional misconduct, Oklahoma courts can award additional damages designed to punish the defendant and deter similar behavior. Punitive damages are not capped in the same way as non-economic damages.

Wrongful death damages — if a defective product killed your loved one, surviving family members can pursue a wrongful death claim for funeral expenses, lost financial support, loss of companionship, and other recoverable losses under Oklahoma statute §12-1053.

Oklahoma’s 2025 Damage Caps and Product Liability

Effective September 1, 2025, Oklahoma law (SB 453) caps noneconomic damages for physical pain and suffering at $500,000 in most personal injury cases. However, the cap is lifted entirely if a jury finds any of the following:

• The injury is severe and permanent
• The defendant acted with recklessness
• The defendant was grossly negligent
• The defendant acted with fraud or intentional malice

Most serious product liability cases — where a manufacturer knowingly sold a defective product, ignored testing failures, suppressed safety data, or failed to issue timely recalls — meet the threshold for the recklessness or gross negligence exception. This is where having a trial attorney who knows how to prove reckless conduct makes a real difference. It’s the difference between a capped recovery and an uncapped one.

Mental injury damages are separately capped at $1,000,000 under the new law.

Statute of Limitations for Product Liability in Oklahoma

Under Oklahoma’s statute of limitations (Title 12, §95), you have two years from the date of your injury to file a product liability lawsuit. Miss this deadline and you lose your right to compensation permanently — regardless of how clear the defect was or how serious your injuries are.

Two years sounds like a long time. It isn’t. Product liability cases require preserving the defective product, hiring expert witnesses, conducting engineering analysis, identifying all liable parties, and building a case that can withstand corporate defense teams. Starting early gives your attorney the best chance of building the strongest case.

Call today. Waiting costs you time and evidence.

Comparative Negligence in Oklahoma Product Liability Cases

Oklahoma’s comparative negligence statute (§23-13) allows you to recover damages even if you were partially at fault — as long as your degree of negligence does not exceed the manufacturer’s.

In practice, this means:

• If a jury finds you were 20% at fault and the manufacturer was 80% at fault, you recover 80% of your total damages.
• If you were 50% at fault, you can still recover 50% of your damages.
• If you were more than 50% at fault, you cannot recover.

Manufacturers routinely argue that the consumer misused the product. This is a standard defense tactic. An experienced product liability attorney anticipates this argument and builds evidence showing the product was used within the scope of its intended or reasonably foreseeable use.

FAQs About Oklahoma Product Liability Claims

Can I file a product liability claim if I was hurt at work?

Yes — and this is one of the most underutilized legal strategies in Oklahoma. Workers’ compensation covers your medical bills and approximately 70% of lost wages, but it does not pay for pain and suffering and it does not allow you to recover 100% of your lost income. A product liability claim against the manufacturer of defective workplace equipment is a separate third-party claim. You can pursue both simultaneously. The product liability claim can recover everything workers’ comp leaves on the table: full lost wages, pain and suffering, and potentially punitive damages.

Do I have to prove the manufacturer was negligent?

No. Oklahoma follows strict liability for product defect cases. You must prove the product was defective and unreasonably dangerous, and that the defect caused your injury. You do not need to prove the manufacturer was careless — only that the product was flawed.

What if the product was recalled?

A recall does not prevent you from suing. In fact, a recall often strengthens your case because it serves as evidence the manufacturer acknowledged the product was dangerous. You may be able to file an individual lawsuit or join existing litigation, depending on the circumstances. We can advise which approach is likely to recover more for your specific situation.

Can I sue if I wasn’t the person who purchased the product?

Yes. Under Oklahoma product liability law, anyone who uses, consumes, or could reasonably be expected to be affected by a defective product can bring a claim. This includes employees using employer-owned equipment, family members using a product purchased by someone else, and bystanders injured by a product they never touched.

What if the product’s warranty expired?

Warranty expiration does not automatically bar a product liability claim. Product liability is based on defect — not contract. If the product was unreasonably dangerous due to a design, manufacturing, or warning defect, the manufacturer can be held liable regardless of warranty status. Insurance companies frequently raise warranty expiration as a reason to deny claims. Don’t accept that at face value — consult an attorney.

How much does a product liability attorney cost?

We work on a contingency fee basis. That means you pay nothing upfront and owe us nothing unless we recover compensation for you. We advance all costs of pursuing your claim, including expert witness fees and engineering analysis. There is no financial risk to you.

How long does a product liability case take?

It depends on the complexity of the case, the number of defendants, and whether the case settles or goes to trial. Straightforward cases involving recalled products with clear defects may resolve in months. Complex cases involving multiple manufacturers, engineering disputes, or class actions can take one to three years. We keep you informed at every stage.

What to Do After a Defective Product Injury in Oklahoma

Evidence in product liability cases disappears fast. Manufacturers issue recalls and collect defective units. Employers repair or replace failed equipment. Insurance adjusters push for quick settlements before the evidence is examined. Take these steps immediately:

1. Get medical attention. Your health comes first. Medical records also become critical evidence documenting the nature and severity of your injuries.

2. Preserve the product. Do not throw it away, return it to the manufacturer, repair it, or allow anyone else to alter it. Keep all packaging, manuals, receipts, and warranty documentation. Photograph the product and the scene from every angle.

3. Document everything. Write down what happened while it’s fresh. Note the date, time, location, what you were doing, and exactly how the product failed. Get contact information from any witnesses.

4. Do not sign anything. Manufacturers and their insurers may contact you quickly. Do not sign any releases, give recorded statements, or accept settlement offers without speaking to an attorney first. You could unknowingly waive rights that are worth far more than what’s being offered.

5. Call a product liability attorney. The sooner we can inspect the product, preserve evidence, and begin our investigation, the stronger your case will be.

Talk to a Tulsa Product Liability Attorney Today

If a defective product injured you or a family member, you have the right to hold the manufacturer accountable. At 222 Injury Lawyers, we have the trial experience, the technical resources, and the determination to take on corporate defendants and fight for full compensation.

We serve clients from our offices in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and Sapulpa, and we represent product liability clients across the state.

Call for a free consultation. We don’t get paid until you do.