The days of standalone products liability litigation are gone, at least when the claim is that a product has a design or warning flaw that led to death or serious injury. When such claims arise, companies need a unified, multidisciplinary approach to address the array of adversaries and audiences they will face. Recent high profile product controversies have demonstrated the critical importance of communicating a consistent and accurate message to courts hearing civil litigation (products liability, consumer fraud) as well as others including: Regulatory agencies, both foreign and domestic, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, National Transportation Safety Board, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); State Attorneys General; criminal prosecutors; Congressional committees; and shareholders. This article will discuss strategies for a multidisciplinary approach to products liability.
This article originally appeared in Inside Counsel, August 12, 2015.