EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE
Clients choose Arthur Chapman's Product Liability Practice Group because of our national reputation in product liability litigation and our 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)
The interests of products manufacturers and their insurers are served by Arthur Chapman as national or regional counsel responsible for coordinating large numbers of claims involving similar or identical products. 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, our clients benefit from the national or regional defense programs we develop, as well as successful management of these initiatives with teams of local counsel throughout the country. Through aggressive and well-organized defense initiatives, these programs have been extremely successful both in reducing our clients' 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
- McLaughlin, Gormley & King, Inc.: pesticide litigation
- Sandoz Nutrition Corp. (now Novartis): nutritional product litigation
- Windsor Windows: product litigation
- Venmar Ventilation: heat recovery ventilator product litigation
- Bristol-Myers Squib: silicone gel breast implant litigation
- Advanced Spine: pedicle bone screw litigation
- GAF: asbestos litigation
- L-Tryptophan Litigation: Defense liaison counsel
Other representative clients include: Capital Safety Group, McLaughlin Gormley & King, Inc., Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, Travelers, Acuity, Reality Works, Broan-NuTone and West Bend.
National Coordination of Claims and Lawsuits
We regularly serve as national coordinating counsel, managing claims and lawsuits nationally and internationally. For some clients we have set up a turnkey management program where we manage all reported incidents from initial notification to final resolution of any asserted claim. For clients with strong internal law departments, we typically coordinate claim management consistent with their own capabilities and internal structures. Our services as national coordinating counsel vary to meet the needs of individual clients but include each of the following areas.
- Strategic Planning
- Self Insurance Programs
- Product Integrity Programs
- Product Recalls and Corrective Action Programs
- Claim Investigations
- Case Management and Litigation Support Systems
- Risk Management
- Document Retention Policies
Strategic Planning (Top)
For clients with a need for an operating national claims management program, we conduct claim audits, review product literature and meet with company management and legal staff to develop a strategic plan for investigating reported incidents and claims, for assessing exposure promptly and economically, for early resolution of claims where possible, and for a vigorous defense of claims and lawsuits that are not designated for early resolution. The programs we institute are designed to allow companies to conduct thorough investigations and quality assurance assessments in a manner that is designed to protect all investigation and product integrity reports as privileged communications under the attorney-client privilege and the work product in anticipation of litigation privilege.
Self Insurance Programs (Top)
For clients seeking a self insurance program, we assist them in developing such a program, and we regularly work with their insurance brokers, corporate counsel, and excess carriers to design and implement the program while working cooperatively with excess claims representatives in managing all asserted claims. We provide periodic case management reports outlining all current and past claims and incorporate whatever statistical information the client or its excess carrier may desire for each claim and for each policy year.
Product Integrity Programs (Top)
We assist clients with developing and managing product integrity programs that systematically review any customer complaints or other information relating to product quality issues. These programs are designed with three objectives in mind: 1) insure that all product quality issues are carefully considered by an appropriate team to assure that any quality or safety issues are promptly and carefully reviewed; 2) insure as much as possible the confidentiality of all product integrity meetings and internal communications regarding product quality issues; 3) protect the company from any uninsured punitive damage claims by creating good documentation for all decisions made about product quality issues, especially decisions that result in no change in product design or instructions.
Product Recalls and Corrective Action Programs (Top)
Part of the product integrity program addresses corrective action programs and recalls. The program typically establishes a procedural framework for evaluating the risk of injuries and the anticipated severity of those injuries to determine whether a product recall or notice to consumer is required. For companies regulated by the CPSA, this program also assesses whether notice to the CPSC is required.
Claim Investigations (Top)
For most clients, early and, careful product investigations are essential tools for controlling all potential product liability claims. Depending on the situation, we aim to conduct those investigations personally so we can meet with, assess, and possibly dissuade adverse attorneys from asserting claims against the company. Where early resolution is desirable, we quickly develop a relationship with adverse counsel conducive to early claim resolution.
Case Management and Litigation Support Systems (Top)
We develop sophisticated systems for effectively and economically managing large volumes of products liability cases at one time. We have unique computerized litigation support and case management systems, including some proprietary software 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 allowing 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 consult with clients on their product literature, advertising, packaging, labeling, and warranties. We also undertake product liability audits and assist in developing document retention policies and self-insurance programs.
Document Retention Policies (Top)
We are often asked to assist clients in developing document retention policies that preserve important company records but allow early destruction of records that have no business purpose and may adversely affect the company in litigation.
