A recent Supreme Court case exposes new ways to prevent plaintiffs from rolling their cases into a single, high-cost class action lawsuit, and gives manufacturers new tools to fight these motions at the earliest stage of trial.
Class action lawsuits expose manufacturers to enormous financial risk.
Mark Raffman, partner in Goodwin Procter's Business Litigation Practice
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Five Take-Away Points
- Develop a robust customer support network and ensure staff diligently document different circumstances (such as weather, installation techniques, location, etc.) that may affect a product's behavior.
- Search for patterns. Is temperature affecting product behavior? Location? Installation technique?
- Leverage relationships with customers to gather additional support for patterns of differential product behavior.
- Always explore the potential individualized reasons for a claimed defect or damage. Even evidence developed in a small, individual lawsuit may be useful in preventing a future class action.
- Include legal counsel when developing a customer support protocol to insure sufficient data is being mined; loop in counsel as early as possible if patterns emerge around reported defects or damage.
Mark Raffman is a partner in Goodwin Procter's Business Litigation Practice, concentrating on complex litigation, product liability, toxic tort and mass casualty litigation. He is a member of the firm's executive committee.
Andrew Hudson is an associate in Goodwin Procter's Litigation Department and a member of its Business Litigation Practice.
