Last Updated on July 12, 2019. 

About this Form: Providing notice of a product defect to its manufacturer, distributor, or seller is an essential step in the process of receiving compensation for injuries or damages proximately caused by that defect. Although strongly suggested, the formality of delivering such notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, is not required under states’ laws, but it is helpful so that the consumer can have certainty that the notice was received. One may also deliver the communication by email, and any reply from the manufacturer is sufficient to demonstrate the manufacturer actually received the notice.

Statute of Limitations: The statute ordinarily starts to run when the injury or damage occurs, but in some cases, the statute may begin to toll at the time the party knew or should have known of the injury, damage, or defect. All states require the filing of any lawsuit against a manufacturer before the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations, also known as a statute of repose in some jurisdictions, that has been codified for product liability claims, or else the action may be barred. These time frames vary widely from state to state, from one to twelve years. For your convenience, PublicLegal has provided at the bottom of this page a national index to the statute of limitations laws for each U.S. state. Refer to this index to determine whether the statute has run before sending notice to the manufacturer.

Seller's Liability: The extent to which a seller, such as Amazon, can be held liable for products from third-party vendors is a matter of some contention. In June 2019, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's ruling that Amazon could not be held liable in this context. The appeals court ruling potentially clears the way for numerous lawsuits from customers who buy defective products from Amazon and other similar platforms.