2017 Webinar: If Only I Had Been Told – A Failure To Warn Discussion: Causation, the Uncertainty Principle and the Benign Experience Principle

The Product Liability & Complex Torts Practice Group hosted a complimentary webinar “If Only I Had Been Told…A Failure To Warn Discussion: Causation, the Uncertainty Principle and the Benign Experience Principle” on Monday, April 10, 2017.

Click here to view the webinar recording.

About the Webinar:

Plaintiff’s legal burden in a failure-to-warn case is often overlooked. This presentation offers practical advice for product liability defendants on a range of issues turning on causation, including guidance on how to challenge human factors experts, rebut the heeding presumption, depose plaintiffs, and focus juries on the plaintiff’s conduct.

The Panelists:

JANELLE KILIES is a senior associate in Lewis Wagner’s complex litigation group where she concentrates her practice in the defense of mass torts and consumer class actions. Janelle has litigated product liability, consumer fraud, false advertising, and deceptive marketing claims. She also has experience representing clients in investigations and enforcement proceedings involving various governmental agencies, most recently the Federal Trade Commission. Janelle handles cases around the country in both state and federal court, and her experience extends to actions consolidated by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Janelle has extensive experience in preparing and presenting several mock trials and focus group presentations in complex and serious injury cases. In the mass tort context, she has helped design, develop and maintain a sophisticated online platform for the creation of a meaningful settlement matrix.

WILLIAM O. MARTIN (known as Skip) is a Senior Partner in the Los Angeles, California ALFA International firm of Haight Brown & Bonesteel. He is a member of the Product Liability and Professional Liability Practice Groups, and serves as the leader of the Elder Care Practice Group. His practice is national in scope and focuses on the litigation and trial of product liability actions. He serves as national trial counsel for APV North America, Inc. and its various divisions, having successfully defended the company’s products in over 30 states, and has represented other clients on both a regional and national basis. Products in which Skip has significant experience include: all-terrain vehicles, personal watercraft, snowmobiles, conveyors, pneumatic conveyors, turbo expanders, nitrogen generators, film winders, wire winders, rotary cutters, rotary molders, packaging equipment, mixers, fabric-treating machines, printing presses, gear cutters, saws, diesel locomotive bearings, brakes on railroad cars, sporting equipment, automotive parts, plate heat exchangers, refrigeration equipment such as compressors and condensers, valves, freezers, air compressors, construction equipment such as back hoes, front end loaders and skid steer loaders, farm equipment, distillation systems, plastic blowmold machines, homogenizers, ovens, plastic extrusion equipment, traffic signals, asbestos, artificial turf, asphalt and the hard facing placed on the interior of valves. Mr. Martin has also successfully represented clients in fire cases, serious motor vehicle accidents, including automobiles, motorcycles and semi-tractor trailers, construction accidents, railroad crossing collision cases, FELA and Safety Appliance Act cases, asbestos cases and some commercial litigation involving his clients’ products.