Our work with treestand and hunting product manufacturers began numerous years ago when we started defending a number of treestand manufacturers in product liability lawsuits. This involvement has helped us carve out a unique place within this market. At Clark Hill PLC, we specialize in representing product manufacturers and retailers in hunting cases, particularly defending treestands.
We work to protect your reputation and minimize the disruption that litigation can cause to your business. Our experience equips us to work with in-house attorneys, product designers, and engineers to develop defenses that take maximum advantage of any company’s research, development and product knowledge. Because we work closely in long term, partnering relationships with our clients, those clients are assured of having a defense in place and “ready to go” with attorneys capable of responding rapidly, no matter when or where the next lawsuit may be filed.
We not only help our clients defend their products, instructions, warnings, and marketing material against well-connected claimant attorneys, we also help develop instructions, warnings, and marketing material to help prevent future claims. We have assisted in implementing stronger industry standards, guidelines and warnings, and have helped to develop a universal instruction video used throughout the industry. Our clients find our expertise and advice helpful not only in defending litigation, but also in avoiding more litigation. Sometimes, the most important advice a good attorney provides is the counsel that avoids, or reduces the likelihood, of another case or even a whole class of cases. We understand that the best defense begins well before an accident has ever occurred. In short, we know the industry, the experts, the people involved and the issues likely to arise in hunting cases.
National Counsel
Serving as national counsel for prominent manufacturers, prominent retailers, and routinely representing the Treestand Manufacturers’ Association (“TMA”), we have developed an expertise in defending these cases. We are currently handling treestand and other hunting product claims throughout the United States in both state and federal courts. Our attorneys have spoken upon request by the TMA board of directors at fully attended association meetings, and have consulted on numerous legal issues faced with the industry in general. We are routinely consulted over the promulgation of new standards within the industry, have worked closely with the industry to ensure compliance with governmental standards, and have helped to review, coordinate and implement the nationally used Bowhunter Education Instruction Video that is currently being shipped with the vast majority of treestand products. We have developed friendships throughout the entire industry. More importantly, most of our staffing attorneys are active hunters and are familiar with the use of the products as consumers.
We guide our clients through the complexities of the litigation process, whether before an administrative agency, in an isolated tort claim, or throughout a complex series of regionally or nationally coordinated cases or class actions. We regularly review, coordinate and defend product-related hunting accident cases throughout the country. With a nationwide practice and a well-developed local counsel network, we are uniquely positioned to defend any product in any state and federal court throughout the country. Our national counsel program was specifically designed for defending difficult product liability cases where claimants counsel are well-connected and prepared. Our attorneys have developed coordinated strategies and consistent defenses for our national clients, regardless of the venue involved. Our program helps to reduce defense costs and eliminate inconsistency by employing nationally recognized experts and coordinating discovery. Efficient partnering with our network of local counsel allows us to focus on scientific and technical defenses as well as over-arching legal issues, thereby producing economies of scale and even greater value for our clients. By avoiding the need to “reinvent the wheel” in every new case, our clients benefit from reduced costs without sacrificing quality, consistency or an aggressive defense.
With a nationwide practice and a well-developed local counsel network, we are uniquely positioned to defend any product in state and federal courts throughout the country. Our attorneys have earned their national reputations in the product liability field. They speak frequently before bar associations, manufacturers trade associations or serve as members of the Product Liability Advisory Council. But most importantly, our attorneys have helped to shape the law in landmark products cases throughout the United States.