When it comes to product liability issues, the firm has a wealth of experience its clients can draw upon for prevention or litigation. Kitch firm lawyers have:
- Tried high-stakes product liability cases involving all types of products from coast-to-coast
- Tried the largest consolidated product liability trial in the nation resulting in a defense verdict
- Tried high-exposure mass tort cases for Fortune 100 companies
- Tried consumer warranty claims relating to recreational vehicles
- Defended negligence actions involving household appliances
- Defended negligence actions involving drug and medical devices
- Been responsible for demonstrative evidence for national product litigation, using state-of-the-art computer presentation applications
- Extensive experience with jury trial research, having conducted over 25 mock trials and focus groups in product cases.
While product liability is generally regarded as a matter of personal injury, the depth of our experience and work also extends to commercial issues like breach of warranty and consumer protection claims involving product failures, noncompliance with specifications, and delayed delivery.
Litigation Avoidance
Product manufacturers and suppliers can no longer afford to wait for a lawsuit before taking measures to evaluate and protect themselves and their products from what juries might do in the future. Without a doubt, timely litigation prevention measures discourage competent plaintiff lawyers from bringing or pursuing cases. They also make any claims that are brought much easier to settle reasonably or try to a successful conclusion.
Our preventive practice draws on the considerable insights of our trial lawyers, who have defended many of the biggest names in cases involving all types of products nationwide. The firm stands ready to help clients prevent litigation in the following ways:
- Product warning audits: A privilege-protected evaluation of whether a client's warnings and instructions are likely to be accepted as valid to a jury.
- Product failure/incident investigations: Early preservation of critical evidence and documentation, limiting potentially damaging admissions by employees, contact with regulatory personnel and damage control.
- Liability prevention programs: Education of personnel, development of standard operation procedures for document retention and incident response, and responding to lawyers or administrative inquiries.
- Potential litigation crisis management: Dealing with the media, perceived need by personnel to "cover themselves," statements and responses to regulatory authorities and the like in the face of a crisis.
In the commercial context, we have advised clients on issues concerning such varied products as airbag inflators, steering columns, piston housings, toaster ovens and restaurant equipment. This has included guidance on Transportation Recall Enhancement and Documentation [TREAD] Act requirements for product performance and reporting, assisting clients in performing Failure Mode and Effect Analysis [FMEA], and working through Eight Disciplines [8D] problem-solving evaluations of manufacturing issues as part of an overall risk management program.
Litigation Defense
The comfort, strength and value afforded by having top trial lawyers with experience and a solid reputation is also critical to successfully defending product liability litigation. The Kitch firm is made up of such attorneys. In cases where litigation is not avoidable, we know how to make products defensible.
In addition to our depth of experience as litigators we have the support of:
- One of the nation's largest libraries on expert witnesses who routinely testify for plaintiffs, with files on over 40,000 product, medical, and scientific experts
- One of the finest appellate practices in the country, with a win rate of over 80%, including important cases on liability.
We have also used our experience to develop unique and widely-acclaimed techniques for cost forecasting and budgeting to vastly reduce defense costs. In the course of this work, we have developed expertise in hundreds of product categories and we have executed a variety of creative and aggressive defense strategies to eliminate or minimize loss to our clients. The firm stands ready to assist the product manufacturer, supplier or insurer in rapidly and effectively responding to the issues that have already arisen surrounding their products--and to the issues that may arise in the future.
