Practice Areas & Industries: Kilpatrick Stockton LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

With over 30 years of experience, Kilpatrick Stockton's Consumer Product Safety Practice has assisted clients subject to regulation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC.) Our attorneys possess substantial experience in counseling clients regarding compliance with CPSC regulations, including the troublesome notification and recall-triggering provisions of §15 and §37 of the Consumer Product Safety Act. We've helped recall products as diverse as children's toys, garments, space heaters, pacifiers and cigarette lighters for retailers and manufacturers as well as for importers and distributors.

Kilpatrick Stockton attorneys regularly advise clients regarding compliance with the "small parts" requirements and other toy safety regulations under the Hazardous Substances Act. The firm provides general legal advice regarding the Flammable Fabrics Act and Poison Prevention Packaging Act, both of which are administered by the CPSC. Our attorneys have also served as lead counsel for companies recalling or considering recalls of vehicles under the National Highway Transportation Safety Act and items regulated under the Food and Drug Act.

Product recalls often are accompanied by private civil litigation. Kilpatrick Stockton handles product liability litigation while coordinating ongoing product recalls.

Kilpatrick Stockton negotiates manufacturing agreements with foreign manufacturers for the purpose of ensuring compliance with CPSC requirements and develops quality control procedures in the country of manufacture and the United States. Our attorneys also draft proposed regulations on behalf of business organizations, comment on proposed CPSC regulations and coordinate industry group presentations.

Kilpatrick Stockton's knowledge in the area of consumer product safety has been recognized in a variety of ways. At a hearing following a high-profile recall involving multiple deaths, the Vice Chair of the CPSC introduced a Kilpatrick Stockton attorney as "the most knowledgeable person in America about how to recall a consumer product." In addition, the CPSC used a Kilpatrick Stockton client's copyrighted manual, drafted by Kilpatrick Stockton attorneys, as the "model" for its rule-making. Firm attorneys also worked on the recall of more than 300,000 promotional items for a major fast food chain. The in-store posters and other recall materials have been used by CPSC compliance officers in making presentations to industry representatives regarding the effective use of such materials in conveying recall information.

Additional Consumer Product Safety experiences include:

• Kilpatrick Stockton attorneys designed the recall of manufactured gas space heaters believed to have caused as many as 11 deaths. Upon completion of the recall, the majority of the space heaters in consumer hands were located and either repaired or returned to the client.
• Kilpatrick Stockton attorneys worked with a major fast food chain on the recall of more than seven million children's promotional toys. Under the direction of Kilpatrick Stockton attorneys, the client promptly recalled the toys due to the risk that their button batteries might be ingested by small children. The CPSC publicly praised the company's efforts. Only one suit was filed, and it was settled for a nominal amount.
• In the same case, Kilpatrick Stockton attorneys were able to recover a substantial amount of the recall-related expense from a large soft drink corporation and an importer that had arranged for the toys to be manufactured overseas without complying with the CPSC's "small parts" requirements.
• A Kilpatrick Stockton attorney advised a major food manufacturer about recalling a food product given an objectionable portrayal of an ethnic character in advertising, packaging and promotional material. The attorney's prescience proved invaluable when the company was the subject of a boycott in multiple states by the particular ethnic community.
• Kilpatrick Stockton attorneys assisted in the recall of one million pacifiers because decorative character pieces opposite the nipple came off and presented asphyxiation risk to infants.
• A Kilpatrick Stockton client, under the firm's direction, voluntarily recalled a food product that had excess DDT in one of the ingredients but did not produce excess levels in the final product.
• Firm attorneys assisted in the notification and warning campaign involving plastic fire vents manufactured over a 20-year period to prevent further incidents involving persons mistakenly assuming the vents were strong enough to support their weight. More than 60 percent of the nearly 100,000 vents were identified in the course of the campaign, which was prompted by reports that at least 10 workers had fallen through the vents and sustained serious (and sometimes fatal) injuries.
• Kilpatrick Stockton attorneys handled two recalls for a leading lighter manufacturer and convinced the CPSC in each instance that the safety concerns that prompted the remedial action were insufficient to warrant the agency's further investigation or its determination of a "substantial product hazard."
• For the same client, Kilpatrick Stockton attorneys assisted in drafting directions for its lighters and other products to reduce the risk of injury resulting from foreseeable uses and misuses. These instructions, prepared by Kilpatrick Stockton 25 years ago, continue to be used, with only minor substantive changes, today on all flame-producing products.
• For a global manufacturer and marketer of consumer products, Kilpatrick Stockton attorneys handled the recall of fleece sweatshirts suspected of non-compliance with the applicable federal flammability standards and successfully avoided the risk of harmful injuries and a major fine.
• Kilpatrick Stockton attorneys assisted in the recall of children's garments after the client discovered that small pieces of imprinted "logo" material tended to loosen or come off in conjunction with repeated washings. Two such recalls occurred and were resolved without a single report of injury.
• For the world's second leading manufacturer of off-road construction equipment, Kilpatrick Stockton attorneys worked on an aftermarket campaign in which rearview mirrors and back-up alarms were offered for installation on excavators sold in the U.S. over a 15-year period. The campaign was prompted by three deaths in Florida in separate incidents involving excavators while being operated in reverse.