01
Regulatory Compliance Counseling
Getting a product to meet the rules before it ships, covering safety standards, testing requirements, and the documentation that proves compliance, mapped to the agency that governs its category.
Litigation, Disputes & Special Situations
Product Compliance & Litigation
From the rules a product must meet before it ships to the recall and the lawsuit that can follow when it fails, compliance counseling and dispute defense run as one continuous practice, with a single partner accountable throughout.
A company that learns of information reasonably supporting the conclusion that its product has a defect that could create a substantial hazard must report it to the Consumer Product Safety Commission within 24 hours, with about ten working days allowed to evaluate the information first. The report is drafted knowing that the lawsuits that follow will read it as an admission.
The rest of the regime is just as specific. The Commission must give a manufacturer 15 days to comment before it publishes anything identifying the product. A firm that commits to a corrective action within 20 working days enters the Fast Track program, and the staff then makes no preliminary hazard determination, a finding plaintiffs never get to cite. In Illinois a strict-liability product claim is barred twelve years after the product was first sold by a seller, or ten after it reached its first user, whichever comes first.
We advise on compliance before launch, represent clients in matters before the agencies and defend the claims that follow a failure, with specialist regulatory counsel where a product requires it.
What we do
Product work across the full arc, from compliance before launch to defense after a claim is filed.
02
Agency Defense & Inquiries
Representing clients in matters before the CPSC, FDA, and FTC, responding to inquiries, investigations, and enforcement, and coordinating with specialist regulatory counsel where a product requires it.
03
Recall Planning & Execution
Recall readiness before a problem and recall management when one arrives, with agency notice, customer communication, and corrective-action plans coordinated so the operational response and the legal one stay aligned.
04
Product-Liability Defense
Defending businesses against design, manufacturing, and failure-to-warn claims. We assess exposure early, marshal the testing and documentary record, and try the case where settlement is the wrong outcome.
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Supply-Chain & Indemnity Allocation
Allocating responsibility across the supply chain through supplier agreements, indemnity and contribution claims, and insurance coordination, so the cost of a defective component lands where the contracts put it.
06
Labeling, Warnings & Advertising Review
Reviewing labels, warnings, and advertising claims for accuracy and compliance, which closes the openings a regulator or claimant would otherwise use and shapes the record before a dispute ever forms.
What you should know
The realities that shape a product compliance and litigation strategy.
01
Three lawsuits trigger a report
Three civil actions over one model, each alleging death or grievous bodily injury and each settled or decided for the plaintiff within a 24-month period, must be reported to the Commission within 30 days of the third. The claims log is a compliance document as well as a litigation one.
02
The Commission's jurisdiction has edges
The Consumer Product Safety Commission does not regulate food, drugs or medical devices, which are the FDA's, or motor vehicles, which are NHTSA's. Advertising answers to the Federal Trade Commission, and a product may be labeled made in the USA only if all or virtually all of it is domestic, on pain of civil penalty.
03
A recall is not an admission, except when it is
The rules of evidence exclude a subsequent remedial measure, a recall included, as proof the product was defective. They admit it for other purposes, to show a fix was feasible or to impeach a witness who denies a problem existed, and the exception is used often enough that every notice is drafted for a jury.
04
Illinois lets the seller step out
A distributor or retailer sued in strict liability in Illinois can be dismissed by certifying who made the product, once the maker is before the court and able to pay. A remaining defendant found less than 25 percent at fault pays only its share of the non-medical damages.
05
Privilege covers the analysis, not the facts
An engineering review run at counsel's direction in anticipation of a claim is protected work product and its conclusions stay out of discovery. The test data, the complaint logs and the engineers' own emails are not, which is why counsel is called before the root-cause meeting rather than after it.
06
Warranty claims run on their own clock
A warranty claim must be brought within four years of delivery under the Commercial Code, discoverable or not, and a buyer who fails to notify the seller within a reasonable time is barred. A seller who gives a written warranty on a consumer product cannot disclaim the implied warranties, only limit their duration.
Anatomy of a product matter
How this work runs
From the incident report to the closed docket.
- Stage 01
The signal
A warranty-return spike, a distributor complaint, or an injury report lands. Counsel is brought in immediately so the engineering review runs under privilege, and the first question is answered fast: is this a Section 15(b) reportable defect, a labeling fix, or noise?
- Stage 02
Report and recall
If it is a defect, the CPSC (or FDA, or NHTSA) report is drafted, the corrective-action plan negotiated, and the recall executed, with scope, remedy, and messaging chosen in the knowledge that every word will be an exhibit in the lawsuits that follow.
- Stage 03
The defense
Claims arrive, often in several courts at once. We consolidate the defense around one record, with preservation locked, experts retained early, and the compliance file deployed as evidence that the product met its standards and the company moved when it learned otherwise.
- Stage 04
Allocation and repair
Supplier indemnity and insurance are pursued so the loss sits where the contracts put it, and resolution or trial follows. Then the findings flow back into design files, warnings, and supplier agreements, so the next product ships with this matter already answered.
The recall file and the trial exhibit are the same document, and we write it accordingly.
24 hours
the deadline to report a potential product defect or hazard to the CPSC once a firm obtains reportable information
Frequently asked
Common questions on product compliance and litigation.
What is product compliance and litigation?
Product compliance and litigation covers the legal work that surrounds a product across its life: building it to meet the rules before it ships, defending it before regulators and in court when something goes wrong, and managing a recall when one is required. It blends regulatory counseling with dispute defense, because a compliance failure and a lawsuit are usually two ends of the same problem.
Which regulators are involved in product matters?
It depends on the product. Consumer goods can fall under the Consumer Product Safety Commission, foods, drugs, devices, and cosmetics under the Food and Drug Administration, and advertising and labeling claims under the Federal Trade Commission, with state attorneys general often in the mix. We advise on and represent clients in matters before these agencies and coordinate with specialist regulatory counsel where a product requires it.
How should a company handle a product recall?
By deciding three things in the first day: whether the information is reportable, who will own the record, and what the company will say. The Section 15(b) report goes to the Commission within 24 hours once the information reasonably supports a defect that could create a substantial hazard, and a firm that commits to a corrective action within 20 working days enters the Fast Track program, in which the staff makes no preliminary hazard determination. The recall notice itself has required contents, including the hazard, the remedy and the number of units, and the Commission expects monthly progress reports on how many units came back. Every one of those documents is discoverable in the injury suits that follow, so they are written by the people who will defend them.
Does Hart David Carson LLP defend product-liability lawsuits?
Yes. In Illinois a product claim is pleaded in strict liability or negligence and alleges one of three defects: a manufacturing flaw, a design that fails the consumer-expectation or risk-utility test, or an inadequate warning. The defense begins with the calendar, since Illinois bars a strict-liability claim twelve years after the product's first sale, then turns to the compliance file, the testing record and the warnings as they were written. Where the client is a seller rather than the maker, we move to dismiss it by certifying the manufacturer. We also pursue the indemnity and contribution claims that put the loss where the supply contracts placed it, and we try the case where settlement is the wrong answer.
Can product compliance work prevent litigation?
Often, yes. Sound labeling, accurate advertising, documented testing, and clear supplier agreements remove the openings a claimant or regulator would otherwise use. No compliance program makes a product dispute-proof. What it does is shape the record that decides a case, and that is why we treat counseling and defense as one continuous practice.
How are product matters staffed?
A single partner stays accountable across the matter, from the first regulatory question through a recall or a trial. Where a product requires specialist or locally admitted counsel, as a regulated medical device, a foreign market, or a technical standard can, we bring in that counsel rather than improvise, and we keep the strategy in one place.
Related
Adjacent litigation and dispute-resolution practices.
Commercial Litigation
Trial counsel for contract breaches and complex commercial conflicts in state and federal courts, run with the same discipline from the first filing to the verdict.
Explore →Healthcare Litigation
Regulatory defense and dispute resolution for healthcare and life-sciences businesses, where compliance and litigation meet at the edge of a regulated market.
Explore →IP & Proprietary-Trading Disputes
Protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, trade secrets, and proprietary information through litigation and dispute resolution.
Explore →Arbitration & ADR
Arbitration, mediation, and other alternative dispute resolution, run to resolve the conflict without losing the business relationship.
Explore →Reviewed by Jonathan D. Herpy, Sr., Senior Partner · Last updated October 2026 · Educational overview · Not legal advice