Our Product Liability Practice Group represents manufacturers in cases filed in various state and federal courts throughout the United States. Our team includes individuals who are trained in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, x-ray technology, toxicology and engineering.

Over the years, the firm has represented manufacturers of a wide variety of products in many markets. These have included products in the following sectors:

Automotive

Automobiles, tires, safety appliances, brakes, seatbelts, airbags and child restraints;

Ethical Pharmaceutical

Bendectin, DES, Thalidomide, Accutane, Phentermine, Parlodel, Phenylpropanolamine, Oxycontin and Pyridostigmine Bromide;

Household Products and Appliances

Detergents, hair care products, fabric softeners, home appliances, power tools, mowers, grills, lawn chairs, wheelbarrows, electrical line hose, cribs, baby monitors and disposable diapers;

Manufacturing/Industrial

Airplanes and helicopters, firearms, fire suppression systems, fuel dispensing systems, logic automated machinery and robotics, machine tools, nozzles, breakaways and cutoffs, and power presses;

Medical/Device

Blood and blood products, bone screws, breast implants, hospital beds, therapeutic surfaces, patient lifts, food supplements such as L-tryptophan and ephedra, neutraceuticals, orthopedic implants, over-the-counter cough, cold and sleep aid medications, pacemakers, pacemaker leads, penile implants, silicone implant products, surgical gloves, tampons, and urethral stone retrieval devices;

Recreational

Basketball backboard systems, bicycles, all-terrain vehicles, side-by-sides, marine equipment, experimental aircraft, bowling pinspotting equipment, chemistry sets, exercise equipment, power boats and personal watercraft, rollercoasters and amusement park rides, running shoes, trampolines, and treadmills;

Tobacco

Cigarettes and smokeless products; and

Toxic

Asbestos, pesticides, manufacturers of chemicals in toxic exposure cases, building product manufacturers in mold litigation, and artificial butter flavoring.

Experience as National Trial Counsel

Our attorneys serve as national trial counsel for manufacturers.  In these positions, we defend individual cases throughout the country and both class action and consolidated cases in state and federal court.

Members of the firm’s Product Liability Practice Group argue before the Federal Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation (JPML). They also represent clients in actions consolidated for coordinated pretrial proceedings by the JPML before federal courts. In addition, we assist clients in establishing a network of local and regional product liability trial counsel to defend mass tort and complex litigation.

Attorneys in the Product Liability Practice Group assist clients in retaining experts in various medical specialties and scientific disciplines who can evaluate cases, assist in preparation and, where appropriate, serve as expert witnesses at trial. As national trial counsel for product manufacturers and distributors, we built and maintain extensive databases of legal research, briefs and transcripts of both plaintiff and defendant-oriented expert testimony.

Additionally, we advise our clients on a wide variety of regulatory, compliance, product development issues, and case management and insurance concerns, including coverage and premiums.

Experience as Regional and Local Counsel

We serve as local and regional trial counsel for defendants in mass tort and complex litigation involving pacemakers, pacemaker leads, over-the-counter cough medicines, pedicle bone screws, post-partum lactation suppression drugs, DES, L-tryptophan, artificial butter flavoring, DPT vaccine, polio vaccine, pesticides, asbestos, building products, automobiles, industrial equipment and machinery, manufactured homes, bicycles and others.

Our attorneys try cases in state and federal courts and argue before appellate courts in many state and federal jurisdictions. In our role as national, regional and local counsel we also handle prominent, media-intensive litigation. We work with our clients to develop public relations strategies, which maintain client confidentiality while conveying appropriate messages through electronic and print media.

Discovery Experience

In our role as national defense counsel in mass tort cases, we conduct discovery of large numbers of plaintiffs, coordinate written discovery responses for cases pending in multiple jurisdictions, and manage extremely large document productions. We conduct many multi-million page document reviews in both the pre-litigation and litigation context.

Our attorneys, legal assistants and technical staff collect, evaluate, process and produce documents in hardcopy and electronic format. We also have experience in specialized document production needs, such as the creation of privilege logs and document depository guides..

Mass Tort and Complex Litigation Tort System

In handling mass tort actions and other complex litigation, we developed sophisticated case management applications and provide technological assistance to clients in responding to discovery requests and collecting, organizing, storing and analyzing vast amounts of litigation and claims information in a secure web-based environment. These applications assist with organizing and delivering the day-to-day information required to manage large cases at a broader level. Because our systems are able to handle many different types of information, they provide a general framework for managing all aspects of complex litigation. In addition to set up and support of remote trial facilities, our technical consulting services include trial presentation preparation and assistance and training.

Audits

We perform audits of a corporation’s documents, products and manufacturing processes and quality control systems as a component of the company’s risk management process.