Lewis Thomason shareholder Ryan Clark recently served as a panelist at the ALFA International Product Liability and Complex Torts Practice Group Seminar for a discussion on “Product Enhancements in the Age of Nuclear Verdicts.” The panel examined how product enhancements—while often beneficial from a safety, cost, and competitive standpoint—can create challenges in product liability litigation when plaintiffs argue that manufacturers should have implemented enhancements sooner or more broadly. Ryan and his fellow panelists discussed discovery and trial strategies for addressing products without an enhancement, products where enhancements were optional, and common plaintiff arguments regarding the timing and implementation of enhancements across a product line. Ryan, a shareholder in the firm’s Nashville office, focuses his practice on the defense of automobile manufacturers in product liability claims pending in Tennessee and throughout the United States.
