"Pretrial Battles in Product Liability Cases"

Below is an excerpt:

Prevailing on questions of admissibility is critical to success in defending products liability cases.

The purpose of this article is to address certain types of evidence that plaintiffs regularly — and improperly — try to get before the jury in these cases. These usual suspects include customer complaints, warranty claims and plaintiffs’ post-accident statements concerning the cause of the incident.

Customer complaints and warranty claims

Many manufacturers, in an effort to improve customer satisfaction, create a record of customer complaints made either directly to the manufacturer or to third-party retailers. Most manufacturers also maintain records related to the warranty claims they process and pay.

Originally published in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, October 13, 2015