Product Liability

Project Finance Outlook and the Selection of Counsel

Jonathan Marsh

In the integrated oil and gas sector, three main trends underway currently should affect projects over the near term. Host countries increasingly challenge private sector contractual rights. In the face of this challenge, there is tremendous liquidity in the markets, targeting comparatively higher yield,lower risk, long term non-recourse project finance, coupled with relatively high commodity prices, despite recent market corrections. I believe that despite the property rights challenge, we can be fairly confident that the oil and gas industry will continue to see robust investment in major projects over the coming years, although we can expect the jurisdictions most hostile to foreign private investment to suffer from under-investment and delayed development.

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Continuing Developments in Product Liability Litigation

Yves St-Arnaud

Director of legal services Bombardier Recreational Products Inc

While the substantive law of product liability is well-settled in the United States, the amendments incorporating electronic discovery into the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure add a level of complexity to product liability litigation, which in its own right is already complex. Litigants have little choice in the matter, however: electronic discovery in the federal courts is mandatory.

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Product Liability in Europe: The Hot Topics for 2007 and Beyond

Rod Freeman

Matthew Hibbert

The product liability risks in Europe for product manufacturers are very different to those they face in the United States. There is no question that the risks of uncontrollable litigation do not exist in the same way in any European country as they do in the US. However, product manufacturers must now deal with an increasingly challenging legal and regulatory regime, and it is now recognised that the European product liability environment, while different to that in the United States, presents significant risks that need to be understood and managed. It is also a changing environment, with important developments emerging on a number of fronts, both at EU and national levels.

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Update on Pre-emption in Pharmaceutical Product Liability Cases

Chilton Davis Varner

Stephen B Devereaux

Meredith A Bunn

In January 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued regulations concerning prescription drug labelling. As part of the final rule, the FDA issued a formal statement of its position on a longrunning and hotly contested legal debate: pre-emption in pharmaceutical product liability cases.

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Editorial: Product Liability

This chapter identifies over 298 leading experts from 31 countries. Over two-thirds are based in the United States, and it is here that we begin the analysis of our findings.

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Editorial: Product Liability in Florida

Product liability lawsuits are as frequent as ever in Florida and the state’s lawyers have an international reputation for excellence. The recent RJ Reynolds litigation, in which a $145 billion verdict was overturned, has brought Florida tobacco litigation into the limelight and many of the state’s lawyers are particularly well known for their work in this area.

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Editorial: Product Liability in California

Product liability proves to be an active legal area, with an extremely high volume of cases tried in California. Pharmaceutical and medical device litigation is especially lively and many lawyers from the state are called upon to give their expertise across the United States.

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Editorial: Product Liability in Texas

Texas remains a hive of activity for product liability litigation, dominated on the whole by established Texas firms. Beck Redden & Secrest LLP is one such example, represented by three lawyers in its Houston office. Its case record includes the defence of a multinational corporation in five recent trials, in which the plaintiffs alleged that the company defectively designed, manufactured and marketed respiratory equipment that had failed to protect them from exposure to silica dust. The client was held liable in none of the cases.

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Editorial: Product Liability in Georgia

Our research in this area singles out lawyers from regional and national firms. Two firms, however, are represented by more than one professional in this chapter.

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Editorial: Product Liability in Illinois

Our research discovered a competitive market for product liability defence work in Chicago. Interviewees drew our attention to the success of boutique firms practising in the area of product liability defence. Two of these emerged from the research with distinction.

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