Product Liability and Complex Torts
We serve as national and regional litigation counsel for a number of Fortune 500 and privately held product manufacturers. Many of those matters have involved “bet the company” cases, both in individual suits and in consolidated mass tort litigation. We have tried product liability, personal injury, and mass tort cases to juries across the United States, and have represented defendants in these matters in every state in the country.
While we have deep trial expertise, our lawyers are also committed to balancing risk and costly litigation with the business objectives of your company. Thus, we distinguish ourselves by identifying, analyzing, and executing preventative measures and risk management strategies that reduce litigation and provide exceptional results for your business.
Our product liability, mass tort, and personal injury lawyers write for some of the nation’s leading litigation journals, and we routinely give presentations in our fields of expertise to bar associations, industry groups, and other interested parties across the country. We understand the special requirements and expectations of in-house counsel, loss prevention managers, and corporate risk specialists; and we routinely implement budgeting, communications, and cost-containment criteria to meet our clients’ needs.
Our team has experience with a full range of cases that span from mass tort class actions to defending manufacturers in individual product personal injury lawsuits. Examples of the types of product cases we handle include:
- Recreational products
- Chemical products
- Agricultural products
- Construction materials
- Industrial products
- Boilers, furnaces, and gas-fired appliances
Amanda M. Cialkowski
Shareholder & Firm President
Brian N. Johnson
Founding Shareholder
Matthew C. Murphy
Shareholder & Co-Chair, Product Liability & Complex Torts
Michael T. Nilan
Founding Shareholder
Tammy M. Reno
Senior Counsel
Courtney E. Ward-Reichard
Knowledge Management & Information Research Counsel
David J. Warden
Shareholder & Co-Chair, Product Liability & Complex Torts
- Gas Appliance Manufacturers: Limit Your Exposure to Potential Litigation
- Amanda Cialkowski Admitted to Prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Selects New President
- Courtney Ward-Reichard Takes Over as Editor-in-Chief for ABA Law Practice Magazine
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Promotes Leah Kippola-Friske to Shareholder
- Best Lawyers Recognizes Multiple NJL Attorneys
- Fifteen NJLers on 2022 Rising Stars, Super Lawyers Lists
- Tammy Reno Expertise Added to NJL Products Team
- Kelly Magnus Joins NJL’s Products and Toxic Tort Practice
- NJL Welcomes Two New Attorneys
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Receives Women-Owned Business Certification
- NJL Hires Litigator Kathleen Curtis
- Sheila Kerwin Honored as ALFA International’s 2021 Nathan Fishbach Attorney of the Year
- Sixteen NJL Lawyers on 2021 Super Lawyers Lists
- OSHA Issues First Federal COVID-19 Standard for Healthcare Employees and Updates Guidelines Protecting Spread of COVID-19
- Kirsten Pagel Joins NJL Product Liability and Business Litigation Teams
- Courtney Ward-Reichard, Editor of “Mass Torts in the United States”
- Brandie Morgenroth Promoted to Shareholder at Nilan Johnson Lewis
- Before In-Person Trials Halted, Three NJL Women Led (and Earned) Successful Defense Verdicts
- Reducing Liability for Concussion-Related Lawsuits: Document Your Training and Education
- Chelsea Vilchis Joins Nilan Johnson Lewis
- Pharaoh Lewis: A Minnesota Lawyer Up & Coming Attorney
- Scott Rusert Becomes MSBA’s Civil Litigation Section Chair
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- Avoiding False Advertising Claims During COVID-19
- Employer Liability When Workers Contract COVID-19
- Minnesota Price-Gouging Laws: What Retailers and Manufacturers Need to Know
- The Importance of Social Media In Communicating Changes and Delays To Recall Remedies and Information
- How Manufacturers and Retailers Can Protect Themselves from Product Liability Exposure During COVID-19
- Tips on Remote Video Depositions
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- Allyson Petersen, Pharaoh Lewis Featured in MSBA’s Profiles in Practice
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Adds Megan Zapata as Paralegal
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- Pharaoh Lewis Joins Nilan Johnson Lewis as Associate
- U.S. Supreme Court Deems FELA Payments as Taxable
- Manufacturers Take Note: Three Significant Product Liability Cases from Minnesota
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- WEBINAR RECORDING: ALFA’s Legal Hot Topics
- Twenty Nilan Johnson Lewis Attorneys Named to 2018 Minnesota Super Lawyers & Rising Stars Lists
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Welcomes Leah Kippola-Friske
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- Benjamin Johnson and Matthew Murphy Promoted to Shareholder at Nilan Johnson Lewis
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- Trump Speeds Up Commercial Drone Integration
- Regulating the Car of the Future: NHTSA Delivers Guidance for Automated Driving Systems
- Acting Chairman Ann Marie Buerkle Nominated as Permanent Chairman of CPSC
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Welcomes Krista Narveson
- CPSC Settlement Reinforces Need for Product Manufacturers to Proactively Implement Safety Compliance Programs
- Recalls: What Information Should Be On Your Social Media Forums?
- CPSC Announces Yet Another Lithium-Ion Battery Recall
- CPSC Wins Decisively in Rare Decision Addressing Procedural Defenses to CPSA Enforcement Actions
- CPSC Again Pursues Significant Penalties for Untimely Reporting
- NJL Attorneys Rusert and Cornell Win Jury Trial
- Eighteen Nilan Johnson Lewis Attorneys Named to 2016 Minnesota Super Lawyers & Rising Stars Lists
- FAA Releases Finalized Operational Rules for Small Commercial Drones
- A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing – Undressing the Consumer Fraud Class Action to Reveal the Hidden Product Liability Claim
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Welcomes Paralegal Carey Smith
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Once Again Recognized Among Top Law Firms for Female Attorneys by Law360
- Safety Rules for Small Drones Prepare for Lift-off
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Named Leadership Award Winner by Minnesota Women Lawyers for Third Time
- NJL Attorneys Listed in 2016 Women Super Lawyers
- Labor Department Signficantly Reduces Allowable Levels of Silica Dust in Work Sites
- Nilan Johnson Lewis’ Board of Directors Now Predominantly Female
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Announces Its 2016 Board of Directors
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Welcomes Attorney Allyson Petersen
- Seventeen Nilan Johnson Lewis Attorneys Recognized As 2015 Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Successfully Defends Client Evenflo Against Class Action Claims
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Named A 2015 Go-To Law Firm® for Fortune 500 Companies
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Recognized by Law360 as a Top Law Firm for Female Attorneys
- Incoming! Despite Lack of “Ice Missile” Laws in Minnesota, Trucking Companies Still Potentially Liable for Negligence
- First-Year Associate Wins Big in Lemon Law Trial
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