California Product Liability & Auto Defect Trial Lawyer

When a Defective Product Shatters a Life

2-Time Orange County Trial Lawyer of the Year

California Trial Lawyer of the Year, Runner-Up

ABOTA Member Since 2014 — Invitation Only, Top 1% of Trial Lawyers

Over 10 Years of Auto Product & Product Liability Litigation

Defective vehicles, dangerous machinery, and unsafe consumer products injure and kill Californians every day. When a manufacturer puts profit over safety, you deserve a trial lawyer who takes them to verdict — not a billboard.

Speak Directly With Gavin — Available 24/7

844-294-6445

Free Confidential Review Call Now

Gavin Long, California product liability and auto defect trial attorney

Cases We Handle

Holding Manufacturers Accountable

Product liability is among the most complex litigation in the law — pitting an injured person against well-funded manufacturers and their engineering experts. It demands a trial lawyer with the experience and resources to prove a defect and take the case to a jury. Gavin Long brings over a decade of auto product and product liability litigation experience to these fights.

Auto & Vehicle Defects

When a vehicle fails to protect the people inside it, the consequences are catastrophic. Defective design and manufacturing can cause a driver to lose control or turn a survivable crash into a fatal one.

Steering, suspension & loss-of-control defects
Defective airbags, seatbelts & restraints
Brake & tire failures
Roof crush & rollover defects
Fuel-fed fires & electrical defects

Industrial & Machinery Injuries

Workers and bystanders are maimed and killed by machines that lack basic safeguards. Manufacturers — not just employers — can be held strictly liable when equipment is defectively designed.

Missing guards, interlocks & emergency stops
Inadequate lockout / safety systems
Heavy equipment & power tool failures
Crush, amputation & caught-in injuries
Absent or inadequate safety warnings

Dangerous Consumer Products & Appliances

The products in our homes are supposed to be safe. When an appliance, tool, or household product is defectively designed or carries inadequate warnings, the manufacturer is responsible for the harm that follows.

Appliances that catch fire or overheat
Electrocution & shock hazards
Defective batteries & chargers
Unsafe tools & equipment
Failure to warn of known dangers

California Product Liability Law

The Law Is on the Consumer’s Side

California is one of the most consumer-protective states in the nation for defective-product cases. Understanding why is the first step to holding a manufacturer accountable.

Strict Liability

Under California’s strict product liability doctrine, an injured person does not have to prove the manufacturer was careless. You need only show the product was defective and that the defect caused your injury while the product was used in a reasonably foreseeable way. The focus is on the product, not the manufacturer’s intent.

Three Types of Defect

A claim can arise from a design defect (the product is inherently unsafe as designed), a manufacturing defect (it departed from its intended design), or a failure to warn (inadequate warnings or instructions about a known danger).

The Whole Chain Is Liable

Manufacturers are not the only defendants. Designers, component makers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers in the chain of distribution can all be held responsible — which matters when one party lacks the resources to make an injured client whole.

No Damages Cap

Unlike some areas of California law, product liability cases are not subject to a statutory cap on damages. A jury can award the full measure of a victim’s harm — medical care, lost earnings, and the human losses — against manufacturers with the means to pay.

Gavin Long

Trial Attorney · Harrison Gavin Long, APC

Why Gavin

A Trial Lawyer Manufacturers Take Seriously

Most personal injury lawyers settle. Gavin tries cases — and the defense knows it. He holds the largest wrongful death verdict of its kind in California history and has repeatedly rejected lowball offers to win multimillion-dollar verdicts at trial. That willingness to go the distance is exactly what drives manufacturers to the table.

A 2-time Orange County Trial Lawyer of the Year, California Trial Lawyer of the Year Runner-Up, and an invitation-only member of ABOTA since 2014 — a distinction held by roughly one percent of trial lawyers — Gavin brings more than 20 years of trial experience and over a decade of auto product and product liability litigation to every case.

No billboards. No call centers. When you call, you speak directly with the trial lawyer who will handle your case.

Free Case Review

Tell Us What Happened

Every inquiry is reviewed personally and kept strictly confidential. If a defective product, vehicle, or machine injured you or someone you love, find out where you stand — at no cost and no obligation.

Important: In a product case, preserve the product. Do not repair, alter, or discard the item, vehicle, or its parts — it may be the most important evidence in your case.