Products Liability Litigation: Addressing Other Similar Incidents and Lack of Prior Accidents Evidence
Navigating Admissibility Issues, Building a Solid Foundation Through Incident Reporting Procedures, and More
Recording of a 90-minute CLE webinar with Q&A
Conducted on Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Recorded event now available
This CLE webinar will prepare counsel to handle two critical evidentiary issues that arise in product liability trials: (1) preventing the plaintiff from introducing evidence of other incidents involving the same or similar products, and (2) laying the proper foundation for the admission of evidence of lack of similar incidents. The panel will outline effective strategies and discuss the benefits to product manufacturers of collecting incident data prior to litigation to maximize the chance of favorable rulings.
Description
The admission of other similar incidents (OSI) involving products manufactured by the defendant in a product liability case can jeopardize an otherwise defensible case. For this reason, defense attorneys must make preventing the introduction of OSI evidence a priority in the defense of products liability cases and proactively take aggressive measures to ensure that OSI is not admitted.
Additionally, products liability defendants often benefit from favorable evidence showing the lack of similar incidents by the product in question, making it important for counsel to properly lay the foundation for the admission of this evidence and guide clients on proper recordkeeping policies and procedures to preserve such evidence.
Listen as our authoritative panel of products liability defense counsel discusses strategies for keeping bad evidence out and admitting favorable evidence on product safety, and the importance of establishing the foundation for these issues early on in a lawsuit. The panel will also discuss tips for counseling clients on incident reporting procedures.
Outline
- Strategies to prevent the admission of OSI evidence
- Restricting the scope of other incidents through written discovery and responding to requests for disclosure of incidents
- Limiting the relevance of incidents through opposing counsel’s experts
- Attacking purported relevance of OSI evidence
- Dealing with OSI at trial
- Strategies to introduce evidence of lack of similar incidents
- Laying the foundation during discovery and at trial
- Countering common objections by plaintiff’s counsel
- Basis for the admissibility of evidence regarding the absence of OSIs
- Counseling clients to establish solid record-keeping procedures
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- What is OSI and why is it important for defense attorneys to preclude or limit it in products liability cases?
- How can products liability counsel use favorable evidence of lack of similar incidents to bolster their clients’ case?
- What are some best practices for reporting and maintaining records of product incidents that will benefit product manufacturers in the event of future litigation?
Faculty
Stephen J. McConnell, Partner
Reed Smith,
Philadelphia
Mr. McConnell defends clients in product liability and mass tort litigation. He has also handled securities litigation, complex commercial litigation, and white-collar criminal litigation. He is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney with ample first-chair experience in both government and private practice cases and has successfully argued significant matters before federal and state trial and appellate courts. Mr. McConnell has represented consumer products manufacturers and leading global medical device and pharmaceutical companies, including Wyeth, for whom he served as first-chair trial counsel in the diet drug litigation.
Sean P. Wajert, Esq., Managing Partner
Shook Hardy & Bacon,
Philadelphia
Mr. Wajert focuses primarily on complex commercial and products liability litigation. An experienced trial attorney, he has represented clients in the chemical, consumer product, pharmaceutical, medical device, food and fragrance, and industrial products sectors when they face significant product liability and mass tort claims. Mr. Wajert has litigated cases in federal and state courts in dozens of jurisdictions.
Recordings
CLE On-Demand - Streaming Video
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CLE On-Demand Video $297.00
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Webinar
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CLE Credits
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Customer Reviews
Very good breadth and depth of the subject matter - the speakers had a lot of experience and insight.
Ken J. Pedersen
Pedersen & Company
The webinar was very informative on very pertinent matters and had a good flow.
Noam Wiener
Allen & Overy
All of the speakers were very informative, and being able to ask questions was very helpful.
Larry V. Smith
Jackson Walker
A very good nuts and bolts program on what to do in this area.
Carol Babbitt
The Law Office of Carol Coplan Babbitt
Very timely. I also liked the references to current and recent suits.
John Devlin
Lane Powell
Product Liability Advisory Board
Partner
Hartline Dacus Barger Dreyer
Member
Herzfeld & Rubin
Of Counsel
Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker
Member
Herzfeld & Rubin
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