In this second collaborative blog post with the Australia-based law firm DibbsBarker, we take a look at the litigation process for product liability claims in Australia and how in some ways it differs from the process in the United States.…

Product liability cases frequently involve severe and even catastrophic injuries.  As a result, product liability defense counsel and insurance adjusters must be familiar with the prospects for use of a special needs trust as a potential tool in the settlement of severe injury cases. Special needs trusts are frequently proposed as a component of the settlement of severe injury cases.…

Up to now, we have written about many different topics on this site that focus on how product liability issues are litigated in the United States. Through a collaborative effort with our friends at the Australia-based law firm DibbsBarker, we offer the first in a series of blog posts and articles about product liability and the management of litigation in Australia and how it differs from the way things are done in the United…

Manufacturers and Installers of Solar Panels Face Unique Risks from Residential House Fires  House fires have always been a major source of product liability litigation in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of house fires occur each year, resulting in billions of dollars in insurance claims. According to the National Fire Protection Association, there were 487,500 structure fires in 2013 that resulted in $9.5 billion in property damage. As a result, insurance carriers and their…

Anyone with experience defending product liability claims has experience settling cases at mediation. Typically, a mediator will require the parties to sign a written mediation agreement prior to the mediation. Usually, the proposed agreement will state that the mediation is confidential. Some agreements are more detailed than others. Some go on to prohibit any attempts to call the mediator as a witness. Other agreements state that the mediator is not expressing any opinion about the merits…

I recently read an article titled “When ‘Liking’ a Brand Online Voids the Right to Sue,” written by Stephanie Strom of the New York Times, that reported an interesting change in the way manufacturers are dealing with consumers and using social media as a risk management tool. In the past I have written on this blog about consumers using social media and social networking sites to publicize their product liability claim or general…

Recent technological advances made over the past ten years in social media combined with the explosion in popularity of social networking sites on the Internet have created a new source for potential evidence in litigation. Within the context of product liability litigation, the ability for consumers to use Social Media to publicize their opinion of a product or, their opinion of a company that sells that product, is a new source for risk to manufacturers…