Meagher & Geer lawyers defend clients in product liability litigation, including complex mass tort/toxic tort cases. We serve as local, regional and national coordinating counsel.
Drawing on the firm’s significant experience defending clients in food-borne illness litigation, a team of our lawyers recently represented Peanut Corporation of America whose products were alleged to be involved in a nationwide salmonella outbreak which resulted in extensive product recalls — which have been referred to as the "largest in U.S. history."
Our lawyers have defended many pharmaceuticals and medical devices, including:
- Fen-Phen
- Pharmaceutical toxicity
- Pain Pumps
- Digoxin
- Hormone replacement therapy
- Phenylpropanolamine (cases involving severe strokes)
- Metoclopramide (cases involving tardive dyskinesia)
- Antibiotics (cases involving tendon ruptures)
- Durable medical goods
We have defended clients in hundreds of product liability actions, including suits involving the following products:
- Vehicles (motor vehicles, cars, trucks)
- Small machinery and household products
- Commercial packaging products
- Windows, shingles and commercial water-line components
- Agricultural equipment including augers, corn pickers, hay balers, silos and milking equipment
- Industrial equipment including ammonia systems, chemical conveying systems, electrical systems and custom-built equipment
- Dock and warehouse equipment including forklifts, manlifts and reach trucks
- Construction equipment including bulldozers, excavators, cranes, skid steer loaders and wheeled vehicles
- Consumer products and vehicles including ATVs, snowmobiles, watercraft and motorcycles
Representative Fire and Explosion Cases:
- Ammonia explosion with claims exceeding $100 million for property damage and business interruption
- LP gas explosions in Minnesota, Colorado, Michigan, Nebraska, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin involving severe burns, death and property destruction
- Agricultural facilities suits involving property damage and business interruption
- Manufacturing and processing plant explosions and fires with claims of several million dollars for property damage and business interruption
- A wide variety of residential fires involving death, burns, and property damage
- Utility related wild fires
Representative Commercial Litigation Cases:
- Business interruption and lost profits claim involving custom food conveying/packaging system
- Multi-million dollar claim involving pneumatic chemical conveying system
- Dispute involving packaging used in commercial food operation with business interruption and lost profits claim
Client Endorsements:
"Our company benefited from the combination of skills that Meagher & Geer's lawyers offered. Their experience in engineering, science and law and their access to regulatory experts was critical to us."
Doug Maggard
Sustainability Director
Orica Mining Services, Watkins, Colorado
"We have worked with Russ Melton and the Meagher & Geer Team on large losses across the country. We find their degrees in risk management, engineering, and law to be unique. Equipped with their scientific backgrounds they provide rapid, accurate, and cost effective problem resolution."
Bruce Bricarell
Managing Director
Wortham Insurance, Houston, Texas
"Our company has had great success working with the Meagher & Geer Products Group on a variety of matters. Their lawyers bring the experience and expertise necessary to litigate complex products cases."
Randy Sharbono
Vice President and Assistant General Counsel
The Schwan Food Company, Marshall, Minnesota
