Product Liability
Manufacturers, and those in their distribution chain, are entitled to design, make, sell and profit from their products. They deserve to have the integrity of their products protected from unwarranted attack based on reverse engineering, post facto reasoning, passion and prejudice. The product liability attorneys at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP stand ready to defend our clients with the necessary vigor and expertise to maintain product integrity and market share.
We take the time to learn our client's business operations and goals so we can present a thorough and effective defense. If we understand your business, we understand how and why the product design, manufacture, marketing and sale followed the path it did. We can then present our client to the jury and court as a careful, user-friendly and knowledgeable corporate individual deserving of protection. At the same time, we can direct the litigation and its outcome to coincide with the financial and business goals you have for that product line or your overall operations.
Depending on the client's needs and desires, and the size and type of the litigation involved, we form the appropriate staff team to defend your case. Sonnenschein has substantial experience in all facets of products liability work and service as national, regional and project counsel for products litigation. Attorneys and other professional staff at or associated with Sonnenschein have broad industry and product expertise, including biological sciences, engineering, physical geography, physical science and medical science. Utilizing the special knowledge of our staff through an interdisciplinary approach to an engagement allows a given product team to be supported by additional in house personnel, which gives us ready expertise in many different subjects. This translates into a cost savings for the client, since the need to retain independent consultants and experts can be minimized.
Sonnenschein has the depth and diversity to develop the most cost-effective and success driven strategy for every engagement. Whether it be a state or nationwide class action, a bet-the-company case, an action involving a catastrophic injury, a high profile or public relations recall or lawsuit, a mass tort event, a multi-district litigation (MDL) proceeding, a single injury case, or a matter on appeal, the attorneys of our Products Liability Group have the know-how to handle and successfully resolve your case. Through the early development of trial-focused strategies and the budgeting process, and always with the concurrence of the client, we employ various techniques, including use of in-house or outside consultants, demonstrative or computer-generated evidence, document management and imaging systems, and careful, thoughtful presentation, to successfully get the job completed. Our appellate practice is similarly cost and goal oriented.
We also offer preventive counseling, risk management, business contingency planning, and post-litigation analytical services to evaluate past and potential issues and problems in order to ward off future difficulties arising out of your products or operations. Typical of this kind of work is review and suggested revision to warnings and manuals, accident and loss prevention and analyses, safety reviews and committees, third-party administration, plant safety walk throughs, internal investigations and document retention programs. Part of our prevention focus includes alternative dispute resolution (ADR), in which we regularly engage. Many of our lawyers are certified neutrals who are appointed by courts, selected by parties or represent and assist our clients through some form of alternative resolution process. We utilize ADR whenever it makes sense from either an offensive or defensive perspective to attempt to dispose of a matter outside the formal litigation process.
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