2026 Product Liability Conference

Aviation
Leading an Interdisciplinary Team from Crash to Courtroom

This presentation details the aviation-centric consultant’s role in leading specialized subject matter experts through the “crash-to-courtroom” process. It highlights key experts: forensic engineers analyzing wreckage and material failures, flight path reconstruction specialists using data recorders and 3D modeling, animators creating visual simulations for investigations and trials, and pilots providing operational insights on human factors and procedures. The presentation covers coordinating these experts during, wreckage and lab inspections, root cause analysis, and litigation preparation, ensuring regulatory compliance and effective communication. Case studies will be added to illustrate successes and impacts to the client, with visuals like reconstruction diagrams and timelines. The goal is to showcase the value of integrating diverse expertise to achieve safety and legal outcomes.

Alicia Moen, ESi, Atlanta, GA

Construction Devices & Building Products
The Duty That Never Ends: Post-Sale Warnings and Boundless Liability

This session dives into post-sale duties to warn and how they are interrelated to alleged other similar incidents. In many jurisdictions, there is no duty to recall or retrofit, but there is a post-sale duty to warn when there is a sufficient number of alleged other similar incidents. But how many incidents does it take to trigger the post-sale duty to warn? And what do you have to do to satisfy that duty? And by doing so, have you opened the door to boundless liability? Also, how is the post-sale duty to warn changing (or not) as to manufacturers, distributors, lessors, or sellers of products whom obtain significant telematic data from the products, whereby they are learning about similar incidents involving the end consumer that do not result in injury but subsequently do?

Timothy Freeman, Gallo Vitucci Klar LLP, Newark, NJ
Farheen Khan, Ph.D. (Managing Director), Secretariat, Dallas, TX

Fire Science & Litigation
Tales from the Corporate Representative

This panel will examine best practices for document retention, litigation holds, and the selection and preparation of corporate representatives. The discussion will focus on the legal risks that arise from inadequate preservation or witness preparation and will offer practical strategies to help companies and outside counsel defensibly manage corporate knowledge and present effective, well‑prepared representatives in litigation.

Hratch Nerkizian, YA Group, West Palm Beach, FL
Ellen Jones, John Deere, Moline, IL
Kyle LeClere, Barnes & Thornburg, Indianapolis, IN

International Legal Issues
The new EU Product Liability Directive and its Global Implications

The product liability framework in the European Union (EU) is set to be transformed by the introduction of the revised Product Liability Directive (PLD). The implications of this will cross borders and significantly impact any business with interests in the EU. A panel of international experts will explore the consequences of this change from a global perspective, highlighting the industries, markets, and stakeholders where the PLD will be most keenly felt. In what will be a far-reaching discussion, the panel will also draw on experiences of product liability frameworks from other jurisdictions for insights on how best tackle the new legal risks emerging from the PLD and other global trends in the products space.

Moderator
Edward Turtle, Cooley LLP, London, England

Will Atfield, Clayton Utz, Melbourne, Australia
Andrei Pascu, McMillan, Montréal, QC, Canada
Thomas Panter, Ashurst LLP (London Fruit & Wool Exchange), London England

Regulatory, Risk, & Safety
Not Everything That can Be Measured is Important and Not Every Important Thing Can Be Measured—Uses and Misuses of Standards, Data, and Measurement in Scientific Explanations of Human Behavior

There is a sense in which going to trial can feel like going to war. We attempt to optimize our troops, weapons, timing of attack and our battlefield preference, but rarely does a commander or lead trial attorney rarely have simultaneous control or even real-time insight into the status of these aspects of a specific conflict. Among the important resources for a lead trial attorney is accurate information. This may include information about her own strengths and weaknesses, the position of the opposition, and an understanding of the terrain. This presentation is about the gap between measurement and experience, or measurement and explanation, and we will consider the importance of accuracy for shedding light on the no-mans-land between plaintiffs and defendants, and implications for how we might approach explaining human behavior to a judge or jury.

Gavin Huntley-Fenner, Ph.D., Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT

Regulatory, Risk, & Safety
Artificial Intelligence: A Friend and Foe – Risks, Responsibilities and How Companies Can Protect Themselves

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a serious compliance risk for companies. In fact, in 2023 approximately 12% of companies disclosed at least one material AI risk – this number skyrocketed in 2025 with 72% of companies reporting an AI risk. What are the risks these companies face with respect to misuse or noncompliance? How does the United States compare to other countries? Will the trend associated with compliance risks continue to grow if left unregulated?

Kelly Hodges, Darger Errante Yavitz & Blau, New York, NY

Food Law
FDA under Trump: What can we Expect?

This presentation will include a discussion of the FDA under the Trump administration.

Brandon Neuschafer, Arnold & Porter, Chicago, IL

Mass Torts & Class Actions
The New Frontier: An Update On Social Media And Video Game Addiction Class Actions

Liability for the marketing of a potentially addictive product is a matter previously litigated in the context of mass torts and class actions against cigarette and opioid manufacturers. However, a new series of mass/torts and class actions EU in the US and abroad seek to extend this product liability framework to videogame developers and social media companies. This panel will address the novel and complex legal issues raised by these cases.

Benjamin Brown-Harkins, King & Spalding, Atlanta, GA
Zohaib Maladwala, Fasken, Toronto CA

Chemical & Toxic Tort
Expanding Use of Artificial Intelligence in Toxic Exposure Litigation

From its use in detecting chemical exposures and assessing risks, to its application in predictive toxicology and modeling causation, artificial intelligence is changing the game in toxic tort litigation. Whether they are ready or not, courts are being asked to rule on novel issues of first impression relating to admissibility and reliability. And litigants likewise have to quickly get up to speed on emerging technologies to be equipped to adequately challenge the use of AI by Plaintiffs. This panel will address the complex legal issues faced by litigants and courts alike in the new AI-driven frontier of toxic tort litigation.

Elizabeth Sorenson Brotten, Foley Mansfield, Minneapolis, MN

Chemical & Toxic Tort
Regulatory Shifts under Trump 2.0 Affecting Toxic Tort Litigation

The Trump 2.0 administration has taken a more industry-friendly stance on regulatory matters, notably in the areas of PFAS and EtO regulation. This includes not only deregulation but also weakened enforcement of existing regulations, which presents challenges in the various industries working with regulated chemicals. Attendees will gain practical insight into current regulatory changes, what to expect in the future, and how these changes will affect enforcement actions and related toxic tort litigation more broadly.

William S. Cox III, Bradley, Birmingham, AL

Digital Evidence and Litigation Technology
Can We Trust What We See? – Deep Fakes and the Manipulation of Digital Evidence Using Crafty Edits, Artificial Intelligence, Selective Omission, and Good Ole’ Fashion Fabrication

The session will discuss whether we can trust what we see in regard to digital evidence, what experts are qualified to assess and evaluate digital evidence, how questionable digital evidence can be examined for alterations and the tools for potential exclusion.

Collin Warren, APM, Houston, TX
Casey S. Erick, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, Dallas TX

Children’s Products
Does This Cartoon Make My Product Look Little?: What Exactly IS a "Children’s Product"

Figuring out what is or is not within the CPSC’s definition of a children’s product has always been a challenge. In recent years, the rapid evolution of the agency’s enforcement posture has only increased the difficulty, with some companies suddenly finding themselves facing enforcement action under children’s-product rules for something they never thought of as a children’s product. Our panelists – a former CPSC Commissioner with decades of experience in interpreting CPSC’s rules and a recognized expert in human factors in consumer products – will help attendees understand how the agency approaches children’s product determinations to help reduce the risk of an unpleasant surprise.

Joe Mohorovic, JPM Safety Consulting, Chicago, IL
Dr. Joseph Sala, Exponent, Philadelphia, PA

Children’s Products
Whose Law Is It, Anyway?: Retailers’ Perspectives on Navigating Multiple Agencies' Rules

Food is regulated by the FDA, except if it’s regulated by USDA. Drugs are regulated by the FDA, but the bottles many of them come in are regulated by the CPSC. NHTSA has car seats, CPSC has strollers, and they share jurisdiction over car seat/stroller combination products. And these aren’t just semantic distinctions, as the widely disparate regulatory regimes of these and other agencies can make real differences in what the law is for different products and what companies have to do to comply with that law. This session will provide first-hand perspectives from both in-house and outside professionals on what difficulties these parallel regulatory universes create and how companies approach meeting their myriad regulatory obligations.

Rebeca Sharpe, Best Buy, Minneapolis, MN
Boaz Green, Neal Cohen Law, Washington D.C.

Litigating Against the Government and its Use of the Deliberative Process Privilege

This presentation will explore the deliberative process privilege, including the origins of the privilege, the policy rationale behind it, and recent case law interpreting its scope. The presentation will also focus on practical tips for challenging broad assertions of deliberative process in litigation against governmental entities.

Dina Truncali, Hollingsworth LLP, Washington D.C.

High Volume, High Stakes: Trial-Ready Strategies for Mass-Filing Plaintiff’s Firms

This proposed topic will explore practical strategies for defending against plaintiff firms that file hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of cases annually. These strategies include establishing efficient case tracking systems, proactively identifying emerging plaintiff tactics, and leveraging trial readiness to achieve favorable resolutions. The topic will help attendees gain actionable insights to streamline litigation workflows, anticipate opponent trends, and pursue optimal outcomes through informed trial strategy.

Samantha Geraghty, Evans Fears Schuttert McNulty Mickus, Irvine, CA
Evan J. Critchlow, Wilson Turner Kosmo LLP, San Diego, CA

Beyond Borders: Defending Product Liability Class Actions Across Jurisdictions, with Insights from Quebec

This presentation will discuss how to navigate complex multi-jurisdictional class actions involving different product liability regimes (e.g., Canada and United States).

Yassin Gagnon-Djalo, McMillan LLP, Montréal, Québec, Canada