38th Annual Product
Liability Conference
Course Overview
The 38th Annual Product Liability Conference will run October 13-15, 2026
Learn current and emerging product liability prevention practices from experienced product safety management professionals including consulting engineers, product safety standards experts, and a defense attorney.
Who Should Attend?
Product safety and risk management professionals from industrial and commercial equipment manufacturers along with insurance providers will benefit the most. Past attendees stating they received valuable information include:
- Product safety management managers
- Risk management managers
- Product development managers
- Design engineers
- Technical writers
- Product liability underwriters
- In-house attorneys who deal with product liability
Fee
In-person conference attendance is $1,595.00 and includes morning and afternoon breaks, scheduled lunches, digital access to conference materials, and conference attendance.
Online conference attendance is $1,495.00 and includes digital access to conference materials and online access to conference presentations.
Discounts
Receive a 20% discount per registrant when 3 or more people register from the same organization.
ID
RA00500-E069
Credits
CEU: 1.6
PDH: 16
Schedule
Registration Date/Time:
10/13/26 7:30am CT
Event Date/Times:
- 10/13/26: 8:30am-4:30pm
- 10/14/26: 8:30am-4:30pm
- 10/15/26: 8:30am-12pm
All times are listed in Central Time Zone (GMT-6)
Evening Reception
Join us for a reception on Tuesday, October 13th from 4:30-6:30pm in Smitty's Pub on the top floor of the Fluno Center.
There will be appetizers available and a cash bar. Please RSVP at the link below!
Course Notes
This is a HyFlex (in-person and online) conference. Your registration is for one teaching platform only: in-person or online. Please be prepared to attend all days either in-person or online. Contact us if you have any questions before registering.
This course uses the Canvas course management and Zoom platforms. A UW NetID is required to access the online
course site. Both in-person and online students should obtain a NetID and access the Canvas course website. Your registration confirmation email will walk you through the NetID process and how to access Canvas.
All materials for the conference are digital and will be available on the Canvas course website. Access to the conference materials and the webinar platform will be provided 1-2 days before the first day. Please watch the email address you provided during registration for conference updates. Check your spam file if you do not see emails from the "wisc.edu" addresses.
Cancellation Policy
If you cannot attend, please notify us no later than one week before your course begins, and we will refund your fee. Cancellations received after this date and no-shows are subject to a $150 administrative fee. You may enroll a substitute at any time before the course starts.
Conference Agenda
Day 1
8:30-8:45am: Introductions and Greeting
Presentation 1
How the World Views Companies and the Impact on Damages Awards – Assessing the Factors
Susan G. Fillichio, Esq.
Strategic Consulting and Jury Research | Visual Communications | Presentation Technology
El Segundo, CA
Informed by 25 years of consulting in jury research and trials across the country, Susan Fillichio of litigation consulting firm Fillichio & Hastings will present information about how jurors in lawsuits arrive at damages awards. She will share data and insights about juror attitudes, including commonly held biases, that impact verdicts and can result in so called “nuclear verdicts.” She will suggest strategies to anticipate and attempt to mitigate such awards.
Break
Presentation 2
AI Tools as Sword & Shield: Using (or Losing) the Litigation Battle Before Trial
Donald R. Fountain, Jr.
Partner and Board-Certified Trial Lawyer
Clark, Fountain, Littky, Rubin & Whitman
Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Nationally recognized plaintiff trial attorney Don Fontain, Jr. will address how Artificial Intelligence will impact the determination of whether a product is defective, negligently designed or manufactured. The company design process, including Failure Modes and Effects Analysis, and their outputs (or the failure to create them) are discoverable, and will be of increasing relevance to fact finders and judges. AI tools increasingly serve as powerful evidence for the company and, if done poorly, for the plaintiff’s counsel.
Post sale AI will equally be a tool to evaluate the safety of a product after sale. AI allows the manufacturer to monitor post sale defects, problems, and unauthorized uses. AI will help answer questions such as what a company should have learned from internal or publicly available data about their product and what a prudent company should have done with this data (warn, redesign, recall).
Mr. Fontain will discuss how manufacturing companies are well advised to create, develop, follow and document safety policies and procedures in order to review internal and external publicly available information both prior to sale and after to demonstrate a commitment to safety.
Presentation 3
The Latest in On-Product Warnings: ANSI Z535.4 and ISO 3864-2
Angela Lambert
Director of Inside Sales and Standards Compliance
Chairperson, ANSI Z535.1 Subcommittee
Clarion Safety Systems
Milford, PA
“Failure to warn” and “inadequate warnings” continue to top today’s product liability allegations. Angela Lambert will provide an overview of the ANSI Z535.4 and ISO 3864-2 standards and how they can be used as the foundation for effective labels and instructions. Participants will gain an understanding of current considerations and implications for product safety labels and for risk management including the latest label format options, recent related standards updates such as the new ANSI Z535.7 standard, and emerging trends and issues.
11:30am-12:30pm: Lunch
Presentation 4
Products Liability Litigation from the Plaintiffs’ Perspective
Jesse B. Blocher, Esq.
Partner
Habush Habush & Rottier S.C.®
Waukesha, WI
Jesse Blocher will incorporate lessons learned from discovery, trial and appeal of products liability cases to illustrate how injuries caused by defectively designed products or poor manufacturing processes/quality control result in and proceed through litigation. The discussion will touch on the legal pre-requisites needed to establish a product is defective and some practical discussion of how cases play out. While Mr. Blocher now exclusively represents injured plaintiffs, he began his career defending insurance companies and business in personal injury claims including some products liability claims.
Break
Presentation 5
Is this privileged? Understanding the limits of the attorney-client privilege in corporate settings.
United States Magistrate Judge Anita M. Boor
United States District Court, Western District of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
Judge Boor will discuss how attorney-client privilege and other related protections apply in corporate settings. She will overview the standards, provide examples of how they have applied in cases, and synthesize lessons for attendees to apply to their workplaces.
Break
Presentation 6
How Reptile Theory and Other Drivers Influence Pretrial Discovery and Jury Verdicts
David J. O’Connell, Esq
Partner
Goldberg Segalla LLP
Chicago, IL
Plaintiff’s attorneys are triggering jurors’ fear responses by arguing that defendants’ actions are threatening the safety of the community. This is known as the “Reptile Theory”. Company representatives who participate in depositions or manufacturing companies who take cases to trial face the risk of plaintiff’s attorneys using this tactic and other drivers to influence their response in a particular case and seek and continue to receive nuclear or thermonuclear verdicts from jurors. This presentation will discuss recent cases and how these drivers result in these awards and what can be done to try and offset these arguments.
4:10-4:30pm: Wrap Up and Discussion
4:45-6:30pm: Smitty's Reception
__________________________________________________________________________________
Day 2
8:30-8:35am: Day 2 Welcome
Presentation 7
Defeating a Culture of Secrecy and the Corporate Capture of the Engineer: Why Old-Fashioned Ethics is the Best Risk Management Strategy
Laura Grossenbacher, Ph.D.
Director of the Program for Engineering Communication and Applied Ethics
College of Engineering, UW-Madison
Madison, WI 53706
This session explores the high-stakes intersection of professional duty and corporate pressure, specifically for engineers, as well as the lawyers and tradespeople who work with them. Using the GM Ignition Switch and Boeing 737 MAX-8 crises as foundations for audience discussion, we will examine how organizational phenomena like the "Problem of Many Hands" and the "GM nod" facilitated a culture of secrecy and lies of omission. These cases highlight a critical product liability concern: when legal and financial departments take a "lead role" in suppressing technical uncertainties to avoid recalls or regulatory hurdles, they often inadvertently create the very conditions for catastrophic litigation and multi-billion-dollar wrongful death suits. We will address the challenges of "corporate capture," where fundamental engineering safety is sidelined by cost-avoidance strategies that ultimately fail both the public and the corporation’s long-term viability.
To find a constructive path forward, we will focus on understanding the opposing views, charitably interpreting the corporate drive for financial efficiency and metrics like Return on Net Assets (RONA) as a response to the pressures of a commodity-driven market. By engaging with this perspective, we can build a more robust argument for the importance of "Ethical Guardians"—professionals with the insight and courage to speak up against forces that weaken quality engineering. We will interrogate the engineer’s commitment to public health, safety, and welfare not just as a moral imperative, but as the most vital form of proactive risk management available to a firm. Ultimately, this session hopes to foster professional solidarity, providing attendees with practical strategies to replace "Abilene syndrome" and organizational silence with a culture of transparency and overt leadership (and followership!) through support for a very old-fashioned idea: ethical behavior.
Break
Presentation 8
For Good or For Bad, Recent Developments In the Product Liability World
Cal Burnton, Esq.
University of Wisconsin
Cal Burnton will provide an overview of recent product liability cases and verdicts, future trends in the field, discuss lessons to be learned from those cases, and recommend what manufacturers might do to avoid similar situations.
Presentation 9
Swipe, Play, Sue: Navigating the New Frontier of App and Platform Liability
Jori M. Loren, Esq:
Partner
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Realth, LLP
Chicago, Illinois
The digital realm is the new frontier for high-stakes product liability litigation. Following the landmark social media addiction trials in Los Angeles Superior Court, a wave of novel legal claims is now targeting the design features behind online gaming and dating platforms, mobile ride-share apps, AI chatbots, and other app- and platform-based technologies. In this session, trial attorney Jori Loren will unpack these litigation trends to reveal how plaintiffs are testing the boundaries of traditional product liability in the courts. Join her as we dive into the complex, rapidly evolving world of app-, platform-, and AI-based product liability and explore what these paradigm shifts mean for the future of product defense.
11:30am-12:30pm: Lunch
Presentation 10
Safety Compliance and Safety Development Lifecycle
Christopher D. Brogli
Global Vice President of Safety Business Development
Ross Controls
Functional Safety Expert (TuV Rheinland, ID#213/13, Machinery)
Safety Development Process for equipment – Includes an overview of the safety development process. The presentation takes users through the steps of the safety development process that include risk assessments, functional specification development, safety risk reduction measure selection, safety design verification calculations, safety system design process, safety system installation and validation and technical file preparation.
Break
Presentation 11
Why Every US Product Manufacturer Should be Paying Attention to the EU’s New Product Liability Directive
Paul E. Benson Esq.
Partner
Michael Best & Friedrich
On December 9, 2026, EU member states will have to comply with a new Product Liability Directive, which is a complete overhaul of the EU’s current product liability regime. It reflects, in some respects, the “Americanization” of EU product liability law, with an expanded definition of “product” that will impact companies at every step in the supply chain. Indeed, issues related to labeling, design, and compliance with other safety requirements (including cybersecurity) that American courts have wrestled with for decades will now be hotly contested in the EU. This presentation will give you a high-level overview of the issues you should be paying attention to -- whether your company does business in the EU or not.
Break
Presentation 12
Recall Readiness for Equipment Manufacturers: Navigating Risk in a High Stakes Landscape
Chris Harvey
Senior Vice President
Sedgwick
Indianapolis, Indiana
Product recalls for capital and industrial equipment carry unique challenges—long product lifecycles, complex supply chains, regulatory scrutiny, and heightened safety exposure. This session examines the current recall landscape for equipment manufacturers, from small industrial tools to boilers, furnaces, and heavy machinery. Attendees will explore emerging risks, common recall triggers, and the operational, legal, and reputational impacts of getting recalls wrong—and how leading manufacturers are building recall readiness strategies that protect brand trust, reduce liability, and stand up to regulators.
4:15-4:30pm: Wrap Up and Discussion
__________________________________________________________________________________
Day 3
8:30-8:35am: Day 3 Welcome
Presentation 13
Believe in Safety
Brandon Schroeder
Speaker
Brandon Schroeder survived a catastrophic workplace accident in 2011—an event that forever changed his life and purpose. As a journeyman electrician turned national safety speaker, Brandon delivers a raw, emotional message about the real cost of shortcuts and the power of personal responsibility. Through his presentation Believe in Safety, he challenges audiences to reflect, reset, and commit to a culture where safety isn’t optional—it’s personal. His goal? To reach the one person who needs to hear his story before it's too late.
Presentation 14
“But Boss, We Met All the Regulations…”
Nathan A. Boyd P.E.
Principal — Product Integrity Matters LLC
Registered Professional Engineer
Versailles, Kentucky
Most engineered products are governed by governmental regulations intended to promote safety and protect the public. Within many organizations, compliance with those regulations becomes the primary benchmark used to determine whether a product is safe.
However, regulatory compliance does not always equate to a reasonably safe product. In product liability litigation, courts frequently examine not only whether a manufacturer complied with applicable regulations, but also whether the design met broader expectations of safety under foreseeable conditions of use.
This presentation explores the gap between regulatory compliance and engineering responsibility. Through real-world case studies, including litigation involving trailer underride guards and other product safety matters, the session examines how designs that technically met regulatory requirements were still challenged — and sometimes found deficient — when evaluated through a product liability lens.
The presentation encourages engineers and product developers to consider an important question: Is regulatory compliance enough — or is it simply the floor for what a reasonably safe product should be?
Break
Presentation 15
Social Media for Manufacturers and Distributors. Exposure and Impact.
Matt Nichols
Founder and CEO
Digital Main Event
Summary to come.
Closing/Evaluations
Accommodations
DoubleTree by Hilton Madison Downtown
525 West Johnson Street
Madison, WI 53703
Room Rates: start at $180
Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor's Club
1 West Dayton Street
Madison WI, 53703
Map
Room Rates: start at $160
Hampton Inn & Suites Madison Downton
440 West Johnson Street
Madison, WI 53703
Map
Room Rates: start at $154
Reserve By: September 13, 2026
Presenter Biographies
Cal Burnton
Program Manager
University of Wisconsin
Cal R. Burnton is a program manager at the University of Wisconsin, having retired in 2021 from his private law practice. He now helps to run courses in product liability and safety. Over the course of his legal career, Cal R. Burnton tried and won numerous complex toxic tort and product liability cases, earning a national reputation for his ability to defend challenging mass tort and class action litigation. From chemical exposure and groundwater contamination cases, to toxic torts involving personal injury and diminished property value claims, to catastrophic and mass disaster litigation, Cal was widely sought after for his track record of success with the most sensitive and arduous of matters.
His clients included leading manufacturers and sellers of products such as chemicals, health care appliances, medical devices, electrical equipment, firearms, printing presses, industrial machinery, and power tools. Cal has spoken and written on product liability and litigation at universities and associations across the country and around the world throughout his career.
Angela Lambert
Director of Inside Sales and Standards Compliance
Chairperson, ANSI Z535.1 Subcommittee
Delegate Liaison to several ISO Committees
Clarion Safety Systems
Milford, PA
Angela Lambert has over two decades of experience in product safety, warnings, and liability. In her role at Clarion Safety, she collaborates with manufacturers – as well as industry partners and advocates – on labels, signs and markings that can help reduce risk and protect people. That includes having a keen understanding of visual safety communication standards, as well as safety label content/design, color systems and print production. From a standards perspective, Ms. Lambert is actively involved at the leadership level in the ANSI and ISO standards for product safety. She is chair of the ANSI Z535.1 subcommittee, leading the standard that focuses on colors used in visual safety communication. She is a member of the ANSI Z535.7 subcommittee, part of a small group of experts championed the development of this new standard, leading to its publication in late 2024. She is also a delegate representative to the ANSI Z535 committee, to the ISO/TC 145 SC2 WG 1 committee (responsible for the library of ISO 7010 registered symbols and the ISO 3864 set of standards), and to ISO/TC 283 (responsible for the ISO 45001 standard). Additionally, she is the liaison for ISO/TC 145 to ISO/TC 283
Ms. Lambert is also an expert speaker on product safety and visual safety communication at universities and associations across the country. In addition to designing and producing best practice labels and signs, Clarion Safety specializes in guiding its clients through a streamlined process to implement cutting-edge visual safety communication systems in line with today's leading safety standards. The company also provides complementary services for comprehensive machine safety, compliance, and risk reduction – in part through its affiliated business Machine Safety Specialists and Arrow Industrial Solutions. Clarion Safety is a member of the ANSI Z535 Committee for Safety Signs and Colors, the U.S. ANSI TAG to ISO/TC 145, and the U.S. ANSI TAG to ISO 45001.