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.

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?

Fire Science & Litigation
Tales from the Corporate Representative

More information is forthcoming.

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.

Regulatory, Risk, & Safety

More information is forthcoming.

Food Law
FDA under Trump: What can we Expect?

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

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 actionsEU 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Litigating 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.

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.

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).