Los Angeles Tech Torts Attorneys: Standing Up to Big Tech for Injured Users
From algorithm-driven addiction and chatbot-induced psychological injury to defective consumer electronics and data breaches, the harm caused by today's technology is no longer hypothetical. Right here in Los Angeles, the Superior Court is now home to JCCP 5255, the coordinated state proceeding that consolidates hundreds of social media addiction and tech product liability claims against Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snapchat.
At Cohen & Marzban, our experienced team of tech torts attorneys in Los Angeles helps individuals and families injured by negligent technology companies pursue justice and full financial recovery. With more than 40 years of combined experience and over $2 billion recovered for our clients, our Los Angeles tech torts lawyers have the resources, advanced knowledge and skill, and resolve to stand toe-to-toe with the world's most powerful corporations.
Types of Tech Torts We Handle
A tech tort is a civil claim against a technology company whose product, platform, or service caused harm to a user. As a leading tech torts law firm in Los Angeles, we represent injured consumers and families across the full spectrum of these emerging cases. Each one combines a specific risk profile with a distinct legal theory.
Social Media Addiction Injuries
- The harm: Depression, anxiety, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, self-harm, and suicide tied to compulsive use of platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, especially in minors.
- Why it's actionable: Plaintiffs allege that engagement-driven design features were knowingly designed to addict young users, giving rise to product liability, negligence, and failure-to-warn claims now coordinated in JCCP 5255 and federal MDL 3047.
AI Chatbot and Generative AI Harm
- The harm: Severe psychological injury, dangerous misinformation, and in tragic cases, suicide linked to interactions with chatbot products.
- Why it's actionable: A new wave of product liability lawsuits argues that AI developers released chatbots without adequate safety testing or warnings, treating the model itself as a defective product under California law.
Defective Consumer Electronics
- The harm: Burns, explosions, scarring, and traumatic injury from smartphones, e-bikes, hoverboards, vape devices, and lithium-ion battery packs that overheat, ignite, or explode.
- Why it's actionable: California's strict products liability doctrine holds manufacturers, distributors, and retailers liable for design and manufacturing defects and inadequate warnings, regardless of negligence.
Defective Medical Devices and Health Tech
- The harm: Catastrophic injury or death from pacemakers, defibrillators, surgical robots, continuous glucose monitors, and wearable health devices with design or manufacturing flaws.
- Why it's actionable: Device makers can face strict liability, negligence, and failure-to-warn claims where federal preemption doesn't apply, with FDA recall evidence supporting the case.
Data Breaches and Privacy Violations
- The harm: Identity theft, drained bank accounts, fraudulent credit lines, and years of credit-repair work after corporate negligence exposes personal, financial, or biometric data.
- Why it's actionable: California's strong privacy framework, including the CCPA/CPRA and common-law negligence theories, supports claims when companies fail to safeguard the data they collected.
Defective Autonomous Vehicle Technology
- The harm: Catastrophic crashes, traumatic brain and spinal injuries, and wrongful death caused by faulty self-driving software, sensor failures, or unsafe driver-assist systems.
- Why it's actionable: Software developers and manufacturers can be held liable under product liability and negligence theories when coding errors, training-data flaws, or unsafe outputs lead directly to a crash.
Smart Home and IoT Device Failures
- The harm: House fires, electrical shocks, electrocution, and property damage from connected appliances, security cameras, smart locks, and chargers.
- Why it's actionable: Design defects, manufacturing defects, and inadequate warnings give injured consumers strict liability and negligence claims against device makers and retailers.
How California Product Liability Law Applies to Tech Torts
California has long been one of the most favorable jurisdictions in the country for injured consumers. Our seasoned tech torts attorneys leverage every available legal theory to build the strongest possible case.
Strict Products Liability
Under California law, manufacturers and sellers can be held strictly liable for injuries caused by defectively designed or manufactured products, or by products sold without adequate warnings, regardless of whether the company acted negligently.
Negligence and Failure to Warn
Even where strict liability doesn't apply, tech companies can be sued for negligent design, negligent product testing, and failing to warn users about known risks. Recent rulings confirm these theories apply to platform design choices, not just physical products.
Fraudulent Concealment
When a tech company knows about a product hazard, documents it internally, and conceals it from regulators and consumers, plaintiffs can pursue fraud-based claims that often unlock punitive damages.
Statute of Limitations
Most California personal injury claims, including tech tort claims, must be filed within two years under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. Discovery-rule exceptions may apply when an injury or its cause was not immediately apparent. Speak with a tech torts lawyer in Los Angeles promptly to protect your rights.
Who Can Be Held Liable in a Tech Tort Case
Identifying every responsible party is essential to maximizing your recovery. Our skilled tech torts attorneys in Los Angeles thoroughly investigate the entire chain of design, development, and distribution to pinpoint each liable defendant.
How Our Los Angeles Tech Torts Lawyers Build Your Case
Tech tort cases are document-heavy, expert-intensive, and aggressively defended. Cohen & Marzban brings the resources and trial-tested strategy these cases demand.
Compensation You May Be Entitled to Recover
Our experienced tech torts attorneys in Los Angeles pursue every category of damages available under California law on behalf of our clients.
Economic Damages
These cover the financial losses you can document:
- Past and future medical expenses, including therapy, psychiatric care, surgery, and rehabilitation;
- Lost wages and lost earning capacity;
- Replacement or repair costs for damaged property;
- Out-of-pocket expenses tied to the harm, including credit monitoring and identity-restoration costs;
- Costs of long-term care for catastrophic injuries.
Non-Economic Damages
These compensate for losses that are real but harder to quantify:
- Physical pain and suffering;
- Emotional distress, anxiety, and PTSD;
- Loss of enjoyment of life;
- Permanent scarring or disfigurement;
- Loss of consortium for spouses and family members.
Punitive damages may also be available where a tech company acted with fraud, malice, or conscious disregard for user safety, designed to punish the wrongdoer and deter future misconduct.
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