Our attorneys have earned a reputation for skillfully defending a wide range of consumer, industrial and FDA regulated products for manufacturers, distributors and retailers on a regional and national level. We have established a proven record of success defending clients in sophisticated, high-exposure, high-value catastrophic injury cases.
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Comprehensive General Liability Defense
Harris Beach defends businesses, property owners and managers, contractors and manufacturers in general liability claims and litigation, either directly or through their insurance carriers. We maintain a strong record of success in personal injury and property damage cases involving construction accidents; equipment accidents; slip and fall injuries; security issues; New York Labor Law §§ 200, 240 and 241 matters; automotive, truck and rental vehicle accidents; as well as a host of other premises liability matters, including mold, lead, asbestos exposure and other air quality issues.
We excel in the defense of sophisticated, high-exposure, high-risk catastrophic injury cases involving head and brain injury, paralysis, paraplegia, amputation, neurological deficits, orthopedic trauma and systemic diseases. Harris Beach attorneys draw upon their knowledge of medical, technical and scientific disciplines, including orthopedics, neurology, toxicology, epidemiology, oncology, pathology, occupational health, industrial hygiene, accident reconstruction, roadway design, vocational rehabilitation, economics, life care planning and forensics. We also defend professional liability matters including the defense of health care providers in a wide range of general liability matters.
Complex Litigation Experience
Harris Beach attorneys have decades of experience defending domestic and foreign corporations, small and mid-sized businesses and individuals in all stages of complex litigation. Our litigation experience includes national, regional, local, discovery and trial counsel levels of engagement in industrial lawsuits as well as mass tort or consolidated litigation. Our attorneys strive to identify cases for early resolution whether by cost-effective settlement or potential summary judgment. We take a no-time-wasted approach to identifying, preparing and defending corporate witnesses for deposition and trial.
Our firm has developed an efficient and cost-effective approach to managing large liability cases, whether product liability or comprehensive general liability. We collect briefs and memoranda of law on a wide scope of subjects and issues and maintain a research bank that is indexed for quick access. We have access to the leading medical experts in a range of medical specialties.
Harris Beach attorneys routinely work with experts in accident reconstruction, biomechanics, mechanical engineering, metallurgy, warnings and human factors. We also work with toxicologists, immunologists, rheumatologists, epidemiologists, psychiatrists, and other expert witnesses such as architects and engineers that we may call upon in our clients’ defense.
E-Info℠ E-Discovery for Litigation
In crafting discovery responses, we locate, review, and ultimately supervise huge document productions in large product liability and comprehensive general liability cases. The Harris Beach e-info team’s combination of strategic legal document counsel and cutting-edge litigation support technology has made us the team organizations, including leading national law firms, trust to protect their interests by reducing the risk, time and expense of e-discovery in their biggest and most difficult legal challenges. The fully integrated, in-house e-info team of trial lawyers and predictive coding technology professionals are leaders in applying dataset analysis and technology-assisted review to complex litigation and investigations. Our comprehensive e-discovery solutions are powered by an innovative proprietary document review methodology which acts as an efficiency engine to leverage our attorneys’ analytical skills and increase document review accuracy by up to 70% and reduce review time and costs by up to 50%.
First Response Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Team
Product Liability Defense
Harris Beach product liability defense attorneys have successfully defended difficult and often highly charged product liability cases on behalf of some of the world’s leading consumer and industrial manufacturers. We have achieved defense verdicts, dismissals, voluntary discontinuances, summary judgments or reasonable settlements in potentially high-verdict product liability cases while maintaining a low profile for our clients defending manufacturers and/or distributors of such broadly diverse products as contact lenses, cement mixers, exercise equipment, commercial pesticides, pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
We fully immerse ourselves in our clients’ businesses by visiting their manufacturing sites to acquire hands-on experience with facsimile products, meeting with key witnesses, and locating and reviewing discovery documents instrumental in developing an effective defense strategy. We use qualified experts in each specialty area, obtain all relevant medical studies, and investigate all viable alternative causation defenses to protect the integrity of our clients’ products and reputations.
Our extensive product liability experience includes:
Consumer Products
Harris Beach represents numerous consumer products companies, including many among the Fortune 500. We have defended claims involving hair dyes, contact lens solutions, cosmetics, infant car seats and small appliances such as hair dryers, toaster ovens and irons. We also represent the manufacturers and distributors of over-the-counter drugs, latex gloves, liquid drain cleaners, dog foods, personal insect repellant sprays, , aerosol ant and roach sprays, beverage containers, and other consumer products that may involve chemical sensitivity or toxic exposure.
Industrial and Commercial Products
Our attorneys represent the manufacturers, distributors and retailers of a diverse array of industrial and commercial products. These include trucks, forklifts, cranes, aerial lift platforms, subway car propulsion systems, fueling components, industrial kitchen machinery, food processing equipment, industrial presses, cement mixers, electrical fixtures, elevators, pumps and turbines. Harris Beach represents North America’s largest heavy equipment rental company, defending claims concerning diverse rental equipment including portable light towers, boom lifts and scissor lifts. We also represent manufacturers of commercial pesticides and foggers, chemical solvents, asbestos containing products, tiles, gases, metals, acids, laboratory equipment and packaging, radiators, valves and boilers.
FDA-Regulated Products
Harris Beach has more than three decades of experience defending some of the world’s largest manufacturers and distributors of medical devices, pharmaceuticals, nutritional supplements, cosmetics, sunscreens, and biologics in state and federal courts. Our Medical and Life Sciences Industry Team attorneys defend drug and device product liability actions stemming from use during clinical trials, post-approval of new drug applications and abbreviated new drug applications, marketing and promotion of indications for use outside the cleared premarket approval or 510k, off-label promotion, failure to report adverse events to FDA, labeling inadequacies, design flaws, manufacturing or quality assurance errors, and product recalls. To help our clients avoid potentially damaging legal actions, our attorneys also examine pre- and post-market liability issues relating to submissions to the FDA including package inserts, marketing materials, warnings, patient labeling and document retention.
Pre-Product Launch Risk Assessment and Risk Management
The best possible time to analyze and manage any risk that may be associated with a product is before it hits the market. Our attorneys take a proactive approach to risk management counseling by reviewing our clients’ product communications prior to launch to help assess and head off potential liability risks. This in-depth analysis often includes the review of brochures, labels and packaging, and electronically stored information sources.
Controversial and Crisis Communications Management
Product liability cases can expose an organization to considerable public and media attention with potentially damaging consequences to their image, brand and internal morale. To mitigate such damage, organizations need to successfully manage these situations with strategic communications designed to put the controversy behind them as quickly and completely as possible. Our controversial and crisis communications management team helps clients craft an effective communications and media strategy to counter negative sentiment. Our team also helps organizations take a proactive approach by identifying potential risks and developing, implementing, and maintaining response plans to limit product liability risk and enhance the potential for successfully preserving their position in controversial or crisis situations.
