- AI Issues are Potential Wild West of Mass Tort Territory – The increasing use of Artificial Intelligence may cause the emergence of mass tort claims rooted in defective product design

Insights on Legal Issues Facing the Consumer Products Industry
Francis A. “Frank” Citera is a nationally-recognized trial lawyer representing clients in product liability, toxic torts, class actions and other complex litigation matters in federal and state courts. Frank has over 35 years of experience and is co-chair of the firm’s Product Liability and Mass Torts Litigation Practice and co-chairs the Chicago Litigation Practice. An experienced architect of litigation strategies, Frank defends companies in various industries and business sectors including retailers such as Albertson’s, Claire’s Stores, Inc., Sears, and Whole Foods to technology and electronics companies like Qualcomm, Sony Electronics, and Underwriters Laboratories. He has achieved success in defeating class certification, disputing alleged claims in court, and obtaining summary judgments and outright dismissals prior to trial.
Ranked in Chambers USA for Product Liability: Consumer Class Actions (Band 2), Frank handles multi-state consumer class actions and often serves as national coordinating counsel for companies facing multidistrict and overlapping class action proceedings. He advises clients on risk management, crisis management and communications, and product safety matters and has appeared before federal and state agencies such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Transportation Safety Board. Frank has been recognized by Chambers USA and Leading Lawyers Network, and The Legal 500 United States describes him as being “highly experienced and capable” and “renowned for his toxic tort and product liability work.”
On Feb. 7, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation regulating the presence of toxic chemicals in children’s products and apparel. The governor agreed to the legislation – the…
Continue Reading New York’s ‘Toxic Toys’ Law: Governor Signs Legislation Regulating Chemicals in Children’s Products, But Changes to the Law Are Already Coming
EPA concluded in draft risk assessments that a widely used herbicide in the United States that controls weeds and grasses— glyphosate—is “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.” Importantly, the…
Continue Reading EPA Concludes Glyphosate is Not Likely to be Carcinogenic to Humans
The question of whether, and under what circumstances, a plaintiff can represent a class as to products he or she did not purchase, remains a vexing one for courts. Judge…
Continue Reading Northern District of Illinois Employs the “Substantially Similar” Test to Decide Whether a Plaintiff Has Standing to Assert Claims for Products He Did Not Purchase
On March 31, 2017, the D.C. Circuit held that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lacked authority under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, as amended by the Junk Fax Prevention Act…
Continue Reading D.C. Circuit Limits the FCC’s Rulemaking Authority Under the TCPA … and the FCC Chairman Agrees
Introduction
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently concluded that the available data at this time suggest that the herbicide, glyphosate, is “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”
The EPA’s …
Continue Reading EPA: Research Shows Herbicide Glyphosate Unlikely to Cause Cancer
Introduction
Plaintiffs’ lawyers in several states are investigating cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other forms of cancer in individuals exposed to the widely used herbicide glyphosate. These investigations follow on…
Continue Reading Glyphosate Litigation Primer
Plaintiffs in consumer data breach class actions have struggled to establish Article III standing. Article III standing requires an alleged ‘‘concrete and particularized injury that is fairly traceable to the…
Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Revives Another Data Breach Suit — Lewert v. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc.
In January 2015, we reported that California’s law on advertising “Made in USA” claims, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17533.7, had been interpreted as imposing a stricter standard than…
Continue Reading ‘Made in USA’ Claims California Removes its Elevated Standard
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposes to amend its existing exposure limits for occupational exposure in general industry to beryllium and beryllium compounds and to promulgate a substance-specific standard for general industry regulating occupational exposure to beryllium and beryllium compounds. In a proposed rule published on Aug. 7, 2015, OSHA proposes a new permissible exposure limit (PEL). Comments must be submitted by Nov. 5, 2015.
The proposed rule would reduce exposure limits to one-tenth of the amount currently allowed. Currently, OSHA’s eight-hour permissible exposure limit for beryllium is 2.0 micrograms per cubic meter of air. OSHA’s proposed standard would reduce the eight-hour permissible exposure limit to 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter. The proposed rule contains several ancillary provisions, including requirements for exposure assessment, personal protective clothing and equipment (PPE), medical surveillance, medical removal, training, and regulated areas or access control.Continue Reading OSHA Significantly Reduces Exposure Limits to Beryllium and its Compounds