Contacts:
Mark D. Gately, Baltimore
James A. Hourihan, Washington, D.C.

From development through sale of a product, our attorneys partner with pharmaceutical firms, automotive manufacturers, aircraft manufacturers, biotech companies, and many other businesses to assess potential risk before they go to market, and to defend lawsuits once they do. Having litigated thousands of products liability cases and taken many to trial, we are often asked to serve as national coordinating counsel in high-profile litigation. A significant focus of our work is in class actions, where we are nationally recognized for our creative and aggressive early resolution and defense strategies. In fact, Chambers USA has ranked Hogan & Hartson’s products liability practice among the top in the United States. We are as comfortable in the courtroom as in the mediation room, and often use alternative dispute resolution to resolve disputes early and at minimal cost to the client.

Our close relationship with the firm’s accomplished regulatory attorneys is one reason for our strength in this area. Because products liability issues often include both regulatory and litigation dimensions, we frequently team with attorneys in the food and drug practice to assist with pharmaceutical and medical device issues, and draw on the knowledge of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulatory attorneys for automotive cases to provide clients the benefit of a multi-industry, multi-practice perspective.

Whenever possible, Hogan & Hartson’s products liability lawyers work with clients to prevent litigation from ever occurring. To this end, we evaluate training practices and procedures, review product brochures and package inserts, evaluate warnings, review advertising, advise on document-retention policies and practices, and examine warranty language.

Related Experience

• Acting as national products liability coordinating counsel for a leading biotech firm, we have successfully defended the company in class actions and individual lawsuits across the country, often obtaining numerous dismissals before trial.
• We have served as class action counsel to major auto makers in products liability class actions.
• We served as national counsel in the defense of a large number of virtually identical class actions filed in state courts across the country against a major automotive manufacturer. Our aggressive and cost-effective approach resulted in the complete dismissals of many of these cases before class certification was ever reached.
• As regional counsel for a manufacturer of orthopedic bone screws used in spinal fusion surgery, we obtained summary judgment dismissing two lawsuits against our client on Daubert grounds, and successfully defended our victories in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
• We helped a major automotive manufacturer to manage the defense of all claims against its products in a four-state area.
• We served as regional counsel in over 200 breast implant suits in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, and assisted in factual investigations, review of medical records, depositions of fact, and expert witnesses and preparation for trial.
• We served as national counsel defending hot coffee litigation for a fast food chain after the infamous McDonald’s verdict, including trying a number of cases, all to defense verdicts.
• We have handled more than 50 litigated matters for a major manufacturer of surgical and medical products involving alleged problems with a knee implant device that remained in the inventory of a business unit that our client acquired in 1998. We were successful in negotiating dismissal of our client from a number of cases where implantation of the device occurred before its acquisition of the relevant business unit, and in settling other cases on favorable terms prior to trial.
• We have served as national class action counsel for a supplier to the automotive industry in products liability class actions.