Product Liability
A full range of issues can arise during a product’s life cycle, putting our clients' bottom line and products' reputation in jeopardy. Our Product Liability lawyers can defend claims of any size, no matter the scope or location. We are committed to understanding our clients' industries and developing strategies that protect their interests.
Our team counsels clients with the goal of mitigating and reducing the risks of litigation, regulatory actions, and government investigations. When litigation does occur, our clients have entrusted our seasoned trial lawyers with the defense of thousands of cases from the initial pleading stage through trial and appeal, coordinating the national, regional, and local defense in state and federal courts including mass tort proceedings, acting as national discovery and science counsel, and handling class actions and multidistrict litigation.
Our group understands that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to any litigation. Our experience has proven the importance of being fluid when it comes to assessing the best approach for defending a single case or thousands of cases.
Product Types
We have defended product liability and personal injury claims involving a multitude of consumer and commercial products. These products include pharmaceuticals, medical devices, automobiles and their component parts, marine and other recreational equipment, computers, microwaves and other household products, machinery, engines, building materials and equipment, HVAC, power tools, lawn mowers, forklifts, drilling rigs, fire extinguishers, cigarette lighters, razor blades, cameras, radar equipment, safety gloves, mattresses, and kitchenware.
Coordination of National Defense Efforts
We have acted as national coordinating counsel in some of the largest mass tort litigations in the United States. Such engagements necessarily require a close working partnership with our clients to:
- Develop successful defense strategies and themes that work both on an individual case and on a litigation-wide basis.
- Select and develop individual experts and entire networks of experts large enough to keep individual experts from becoming over-exposed, but small enough to maintain consistency and control over cost and quality.
- Monitor court rulings and results in trials involving products litigation similar to that faced by our clients to analyze successful and unsuccessful strategies.
- Coordinate discovery responses and testimony given by company witnesses to maintain consistency.
- Provide strategic advice on appeals at a local and national level.
Risk Management
Our Product Liability lawyers counsel clients on risk management and prevention associated with their products. This includes advice regarding mandatory notifications, product recalls, product modification, warnings and labeling, warranties and disclaimers, regulatory requirements, advertising materials, material safety data sheets, consumer and customer interaction and claims handling, and the monitoring of medical and legal developments of particular concern to our clients.
Potential Consumer Product Regulatory Issues and Recalls
The firm is able to offer comprehensive safety and regulatory compliance counseling services for consumer product businesses. Our Product Liability lawyers have experience with product safety reporting, recall requirements, and coordination of worldwide safety efforts with the assistance of our global network of offices. We also work with our clients to identify and manage product safety risks and offer insight into best practices. Our Consumer Product Safety practice includes strategic advice on risk management, enforcement, crisis management, and the diverse spectrum of regulations associated with various products.
Monitoring Current Developments and Emerging Trends
Our Product Liability lawyers continuously monitor proposed legislation relating to product liability reform and have been involved in related lobbying efforts on behalf of clients. We keep clients informed of the trends in product liability law at all levels via case updates, in-house or remotely accessed continuing education courses, and articles.
The past two decades have been characterized by national and international trends in product liability laws that impact the prosecution and defense of both mass consolidated litigations and individual cases. In the United States, federal court decisions and statutes often cause a ripple effect among the states and result in rulings by state courts that follow and build upon the original ruling, or that take the ruling in a direction neither the author nor the parties could have anticipated. Although product liability law outside the United States historically has not been as well developed as it is in the United States, that trend is reversing itself.
Document Production Control and e-Discovery
More than 15 years ago, the firm broke ground by creating a law firm practice group dedicated exclusively to e-discovery and the management of records. Our E-Discovery Analysis and Technology (e-DAT) group understands and applies all aspects of rapidly changing e-discovery law, including best practices and protocols, and applies them strategically on behalf of our clients. Our e-DAT group works with our product liability clients to develop internal plans for responding to litigation or regulatory investigations, focusing on retention, collection, initial analysis review, and production, with an eye toward maximizing litigation results while minimizing litigation expense.
