This brand new edition of Maryland Product Liability Law (released March 3, 2004) is the only comprehensive practice guide to Maryland product liability law and an excellent reference for both seasoned product liability practitioners and less experienced newcomers to this most challenging and rewarding area of the law.

Maryland Product Liability Law 2nd edition revises, updates and greatly expands the original 1990 edition. In fact, with 19 chapters, 774 pages, an index, table of cases and table of authorities, Maryland Product Liability Law 2nd edition is really an altogether new and different book, written to help Maryland lawyers keep pace with the many changes and developments in an area of tort litigation that has been more volatile than any other in the past decade.

Joel Dewey and Leslie Hayes Russo, highly respected and effective trial attorneys with vast experience prosecuting and defending product liability cases, provide a thorough explanation of the theories of liability, elements of proof, substantive and technical defenses, damages, certification of class actions, and settlement issues, including settlement and release considerations with respect to joint tortfeasors. Maryland Product Liability Law 2nd edition surveys the legal ground rules and sets forth the current state of product liability law in Maryland’s state and federal courts in the eleven chapters of Part I.

In Parts II and III (chapters 12-19) Dewey and Russo move on to the discovery, pretrial preparation and trial phases of product liability cases. In contrast to the objective, measured tone of Part I, Parts II and III present the respective advocacy viewpoints of both plaintiff’s and defendant’s counsel, in order to give the reader a balanced perspective of the adversarial issues involved in preparing a product liability case and taking it to trial. These final eight chapters are filled with useful, practical observations, analyses and tips on the investigation of claims, the hiring and use of experts, the formal discovery process, and the critical tactical considerations in making and defending motions in limine.

Maryland Product Liability Law 2nd edition is a MUST addition to the practice library of every Maryland attorney who is consulted on a possible product liability claim.