Product Liability
Thomas Rubin & Kelley PC represents manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, along with their insurers, in product liability litigation throughout Arizona. Our product work covers defect claims involving household appliances, vehicle components, power tools, industrial machinery, and consumer goods, along with retailer and distributor tender disputes. Our attorneys understand the engineering and manufacturing issues behind these claims and present technical evidence clearly to judges and juries. We also serve as local counsel for out-of-state manufacturers and national defense teams, providing seamless integration with national trial strategies.
Product Claims We Defend
We defend claims based on design defect, manufacturing defect, and failure to warn theories, pleaded in strict liability, negligence, and breach of warranty.
Retailers and distributors are frequently named alongside the manufacturer. Thomas Rubin & Kelley PC evaluates tender and indemnity rights between those parties early, so that the defense is structured efficiently and costs fall where they belong.
Many product claims also involve a component part or raw material supplied by another company. Our attorneys identify those suppliers early, evaluate whether they should be brought into the case or named as nonparties at fault, and tender the defense where the supply agreement requires it.
Technical Evidence and Early Assessment
Every product assignment begins with a review of the incident, the product, its design and warning history, and any prior claims, followed by an early assessment of liability and exposure for the client and carrier.
Product cases are decided on technical evidence. The firm secures the product and the scene, arranges joint inspections under agreed protocols, and retains engineering and human factors experts in the relevant field. Questions of alteration, misuse, and maintenance after the product left the defendant's control are part of the investigation from the first inspection.
Reports explain the technical issues in plain terms, then set out the legal risk, the recommended strategy, and a budget tied to the expert work the case will require.
Product cases can involve substantial damages claims and complex expert evidence. We prepare them for trial, and that preparation gives the client a stronger position in settlement discussions.
Issues That Shape Product Liability Cases
The product's history after the sale frequently decides these cases. We investigate alteration, modification, misuse, maintenance, and the instructions and warnings that accompanied the product, and we develop state of the art evidence for the time the product was first sold. Our attorneys handle these defenses under A.R.S. §12-683.
Tender and indemnity questions between manufacturers and sellers arise in many product cases. Our attorneys handle seller indemnification claims under A.R.S. §12-684 and structure the defense of retailers and distributors to account for them, including the timing of any tender to the manufacturer.
Employers, users, and later modifiers of a product often share responsibility for an accident, and juries weigh that conduct against the product's design. We develop that evidence early so it is ready for trial.
Local Counsel for National Defense Teams
When a manufacturer has national counsel, Thomas Rubin & Kelley PC serves as Arizona local counsel. That role includes guidance on Arizona procedure and local practice, filings and appearances, and preparation of the case for trial in an Arizona courtroom, consistent with the strategy set by national counsel and the client.
The firm also handles Arizona product cases for manufacturers and retailers without national counsel, managing the matter from assignment through trial or resolution and working with the client's legal and risk management teams on documents, witnesses, and product history.
Engaging the Firm on a Product Claim
Manufacturers, retailers, national counsel, and their insurers may call (602) 274-8289 or write to us via the contact page to assign a product liability claim or engage Arizona local counsel.