Subject: State-of-the-Art

New EU Product Liability Directive Published in Official Journal

Share

The countdown has begun towards the transformed European product liability landscape! The recently adopted European Union Product Liability Directive (PLD) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union today. Transposition of the PLD into domestic law of the EU member states must be completed by December 9, 2026. As we previously discussed, products put on the market after December 9, 2026, will be subject to the new PLD, while products placed on the market prior to this date will be subject to the laws currently in place.

Further information about the new PLD (including new risks and opportunities for businesses operating in the EU) can be found in our previous updates here and here. Faegre Drinker will continue to monitor developments as the member states transpose the PLD and the new rules take shape.

Affirmative Defenses; Collective Redress Directive; Discovery

Share

On October 10, the European Council adopted the European Union’s new Directive on Liability for Defective Products (PLD). The Council’s adoption of the new PLD represents a momentous step towards a complete restructuring of the EU’s product liability landscape as it will replace the current 40-year-old directive and soon become the EU’s new governing regime. The new PLD will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Thereafter, member states will have two years to transpose the directive into national law. Alongside the new Representative Actions Directive implemented last year, the product liability legal landscape is in the process of a great transformation in Europe.

Read the full article on the Faegre Drinker website.

Failure to Fully Disclose Expert Opinions Results in Summary Judgment

Share

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2) requires retained expert witnesses to provide an expert report which gives “a complete statement of all opinions the witness will express and the basis and reasons for them.”  Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(B)(i).  If a party fails to disclose information required under Rule 26(a)(2), “the party is not allowed to use that information or witness to supply evidence on a motion, at a hearing, or at a trial, unless the failure was substantially justified or is harmless.”  Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(c)(1).  As a plaintiff in the Western District of Washington recently learned, failure to adhere to Rule 26 can be fatal to a case.

Continue reading “Failure to Fully Disclose Expert Opinions Results in Summary Judgment”