Product Liability

Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote’s Product Liability Group believes in the age-old adage, “the best defense is a solid offense.” With this philosophy, we counsel clients on risks spanning from a product’s conceptual design to its defense in the courtroom. Our proactive, innovative practice encompasses clients ranging from international Fortune 500 companies to local family-owned businesses.

Preventative Guidance and Counseling

In product design, manufacture, and distribution, the Product Liability Group strives to provide clients with preventative guidance on the legal impact of quality control measures, product instructions and warnings, and contractual rights and responsibilities. These analyses are steeped in a real-world understanding of the many and varied forces affecting manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers, as well as the experience gained from the Group’s long tradition of defending clients faced with legal challenges to their industrial, commercial, and consumer products.

Team-Oriented Litigation Representation

When lawsuits arise, the Product Liability Group vigorously represents our clients’ interests, yet remains ever-cognizant of the economic impact of litigation. Recognizing that the greatest source of product knowledge is often the client, the Group employs a teamwork approach to promote the effective and economical exchange and development of information between attorney and client. This team approach extends to those instances when outside scientific or technological expertise is required to defend a client and its product, thus allowing both client and counsel to arrive at well-informed and business-sound decisions.

The members of our practice concentrate on resolving product liability lawsuits as early on as possible when it is in the best interests of our clients to do so. We frequently use alternative dispute resolution methods, including mediation, in an effort to find creative solutions that settle these high-stakes matters well before they have the chance to enter the courtroom.

A Full-Service, Hands-On Approach

In the best Dickie McCamey tradition, the members of our Product Liability Group practice a hands-on, face-to-face approach with every client so that we fully understand each product we defend.

Our attorneys maintain a vigilant eye on cutting-edge developments in the law to counsel clients on their legal interests both inside and out of the courtroom. In particular, we continually track and analyze the manner in which courts are applying negligence and strict liability principles in product liability cases.

Further, the Group has instituted a Rapid Response Team which serves as an “early warning system” for our clients by advising them of local occurrences involving their products. This allows for immediate investigation while facts are fresh, preservation of evidence, coordination with local investigative agencies and, occasionally, amicable claim resolution, usually before a lawsuit is filed.

Broad-Based Capabilities

The Product Liability Group counsels clients in all facets of the law impacting manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers in the industrial, commercial, and consumer arenas, including:

• Compliance with governmental standards
• Contribution and indemnity rights and obligations
• Crashworthiness and enhanced injury claims
• Design and manufacture liability
• Duties to provide warning and instruction
• Post-manufacturing obligations
• Product design, manufacturing, assembly, testing, and distribution
• Record retention policies
• Successor liability
• Warranty liability and consumer rights

With years of successful professional experience and a commitment to proactive, cost-effective legal representation, the attorneys of the Product Liability Group have earned a national reputation in product liability counseling and litigation. We are prepared to meet any legal challenge that may arise for our clients.

To learn more about the capabilities of the Product Liability Group, contact Douglas M. Grimsley at 412-392-5420 or dgrimsley@dmclaw.com; or Nancy R. Winschel at 412-392-5307 or nwinschel@dmclaw.com.