EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE
The attorneys in Arthur Chapman's Product Liability Practice Group have developed a reputable name within the product liability industry through their extensive experience defending a broad range of lawsuits involving a wide variety of industries and products. The group's experience ranges from pharmaceutical and medical device litigation to agricultural and consumer products, from fire origin and cause litigation to mass tort and serial product liability claims.
NATIONAL AND REGIONAL COUNSEL (Top)
Arthur Chapman has served the interests of products manufacturers and their insurers as national or regional counsel responsible for coordinating large numbers of claims involving similar or identical products. Our nationally-managed programs include corporations in the nutrition products, over-the-counter drugs, medical devices, consumer products, insecticides and pesticides, and safety products. In these industries, we have developed national or regional defense programs and successfully managed these with teams of local counsel throughout the country. Through aggressive and well-organized defense initiatives, these programs have been extremely successful both in reducing the company's high costs of defense as well as in curtailing the filing of new lawsuits. Some representative clients include:
- Capital Safety Group: fall protection product line
- McLaughin, Gormley & King, Inc.: pestiside litigation
- Sandoz Nutrition Corp. (now Novartis): nutritional product litigation
- Bristol-Myers Squib: silicone gel breast implant litigation
- Advanced Spine: pedicle bone screw litigation
- GAF: asbestos litigation
- L-Tryptophane Litigation: Defense liaison counsel
Other representative clients include: AGCO Corporation, Navistar International Transportation Corp., SouthCorp USA, Inc., Heidelberg Web Press, Inc., Maytag Corporation, Pass & Seymour, Inc., MiTek Industries, Inc., and West Bend.
Our work for these clients has resulted in the development of systems for effectively and economically managing large volumes of products liability cases at one time. We have installed sophisticated and unique computerized litigation support and case management systems, including some proprietary software we have developed internally. These systems allow us, and our clients, immediate access to current information about the status of every lawsuit. Hundreds of thousands of documents and many gigabytes of electronic data can be efficiently organized and analyzed through our document imaging program, through electronic manipulation in relational databases, and by a sophisticated coding and abstracting system. Often, massive databases can be efficiently incorporated into a strategic defense plan that allows cost-efficient focusing of the litigation onto the central issues, promoting a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the individual cases.
RISK MANAGEMENT (Top)
Our Products Liability Practice Group also focuses on working with manufacturers to develop creative ways to minimize and avoid product liability litigation. We are available to consult with clients on their product literature, advertising, packaging, labeling, and warranties. Additionally, we undertake product liability audits, assist in developing document retention policies and provide consultation regarding instituting national litigation programs.