Improving your Response to Product Liability Claims

This paper describes subjects manufacturers should consider and procedures they can implement to document the design, production and modification of their products to improve the effectiveness of the defense of injury lawsuits arising from use of those products. These subjects include the product's design characteristics, safety devices, warnings, accompanying product literature, utility and cost. Documentation procedures include the choice of documents to be maintained, and their control and retrieval. Once lawsuits arise, there are also steps that defendant manufacturers should take to work most effectively with experts and claims personnel to successfully respond to such claims.