This automaker defense conference just finished. See below for the conference program
Sean Kane was good enough to report on some of the remarks by NHTSA Chief Counsel Kevin Vincent, the very man who balked when I offered him some hot evidence that Toyota knew all about electronics defects that can cause SUA...because as Kevin's henchman attorney Matthew Weissman said, NHTSA cannot examine docs that automakers claim are attorney work product and attorney-client privileged.
Very good Kevin. Walk the talk, OK? So far you aren't. Let me contact you today to see if you do as you say you will do. [contacted, today June 9, 2014. Left VM message with my phone number and details.]
And don't let the DOJ get away with the same nonsense you've presided over while you wait until some Big Law firm offers you an important job.
Meanwhile, the Omni Hotel's hallways, bars, and restaurant tables must have been a hotbed of in-house and outside counsel making cozy connections. How much money can they make in the process of defending automakers against consumer claims of auto defects? At least $500/hour, plus accolades and prizes for best defense lawyer, like Lisa Gilford. Fame and fortune await those lawyers willing to go to bat for automakers in court.
It must have been quite a scene of happy, well-paid lawyers whose financial interests align nicely with the existence of dangerous cars.
Sean Kane was good enough to report on some of the remarks by NHTSA Chief Counsel Kevin Vincent, the very man who balked when I offered him some hot evidence that Toyota knew all about electronics defects that can cause SUA...because as Kevin's henchman attorney Matthew Weissman said, NHTSA cannot examine docs that automakers claim are attorney work product and attorney-client privileged.
First, Chief Counsel O. Kevin Vincent lulled them with a feel-good “rah-rah-ree” paean to industry. And then, he made the hair on the back of their necks rise: A manufacturer’s obligation to report a defect within five days of its discovery is the law, and after a long hiatus from doing its job, NHTSA intended to take “an aggressive stance” in enforcing it.
The first offense line in the discovery of a defect was not the Office of Defects Investigation, Vincent said. It was the manufacturers themselves.
“We don’t have analysts, but your clients do. You all have ability to find these defects,” he said.
A manufacturer cannot delay a defect finding, while a safety problem meanders through an internal process involving multiple committees. It cannot hide its knowledge behind a wall of attorney work product and attorney-client privilege. It cannot wait until it’s gotten the supply chain ready to implement the recall.
And it better not wait until after it settles a plaintiff’s case for big bucks. The TREAD Act obligated NHTSA to “follow up on civil litigation that sends up red flags,” he said.
Very good Kevin. Walk the talk, OK? So far you aren't. Let me contact you today to see if you do as you say you will do. [contacted, today June 9, 2014. Left VM message with my phone number and details.]
And don't let the DOJ get away with the same nonsense you've presided over while you wait until some Big Law firm offers you an important job.
Meanwhile, the Omni Hotel's hallways, bars, and restaurant tables must have been a hotbed of in-house and outside counsel making cozy connections. How much money can they make in the process of defending automakers against consumer claims of auto defects? At least $500/hour, plus accolades and prizes for best defense lawyer, like Lisa Gilford. Fame and fortune await those lawyers willing to go to bat for automakers in court.
It must have been quite a scene of happy, well-paid lawyers whose financial interests align nicely with the existence of dangerous cars.
Automotive Product Liability Litigation
Expert Strategies for Singles-Out Vehicles and Media-Focused Issues
Wednesday, June 04 to Thursday, June 05, 2014
The Omni Chicago Hotel on the Magnificent Mile, Chicago, IL
Now in its 7th year, ACI’s lauded Automotive Product Liability Litigation conference is the highest-level national event on the market. It’s the only one that combines federal and state judicial insights and networking and business development opportunities with dozens of inhouse counsel from manufacturers and suppliers, all while allowing you to keep pace with the hot jurisdictions, case law, new and emerging parties, and advancements in technology. This year’s agenda has been revamped to provide you with strategic advice, critical insights, and comprehensive updates for:
- Defending against typical defect theories: rollovers, side curtain air bags, fires, tire aging, electronic stability control, unintended acceleration, keyless ignition, and seat backs
- Vehicle driver assist and sensor technologies, active safety systems, and autonomous cars: overcoming the product liability defense challenges and anticipating the future of claims
- Incorporating the latest regulatory initiatives on safety and design of automotive products into your litigation strategy
- Current battleground for automotive class action litigation including class certification, managing experts, pleadings, choice of law, and arbitration
- Combating the recent rise in the filing of claims and class actions involving no-injury, consumer fraud, and warranties (express and implied)
- How recalls are impacting class actions, litigation strategy to defeat class claims, recall-based Rule 23 arguments, and mootness
- The latest nuances on the preemption defense and international personal jurisdiction and their impact on auto products liability cases
- Effectively cross-examining experts and developing newer qualified newer experts
- Ensuring confidentiality in the litigation of automotive claims, protecting work product in a discovery dispute, and using arbitration to your advantage