251-217-9733
Manufacturing & Industrial Litigation
Supply chain, equipment, warranty, and the plant incident that becomes four claims at once.
The Disputes Manufacturers Actually Face
Manufacturing and industrial litigation covers the disputes that arise from making things at scale, with suppliers, customers, equipment vendors, contractors, and the people who work in the plant.
What distinguishes this sector is interconnection. A supplier who delivers out-of-specification material creates a warranty problem with your customer, a contract claim against the supplier, and potentially a product liability exposure downstream, all from one delivery. A single incident on the floor can generate a workers' compensation claim, a premises claim from a contractor, an equipment dispute with a vendor, and a regulatory inspection (simultaneously, and on four different timelines).
What We Handle
Supply chain disputes
Non-conforming goods, delivery failures, price disputes, and the allocation of loss down the chain.
Equipment and machinery claims
Failures, warranty disputes, service agreements, and downtime losses.
Warranty and product claims
Between commercial parties, and downstream where end users are affected, see Product Liability.
Industrial contracts
Supply agreements, distribution, tolling arrangements, and the indemnity provisions inside them.
Plant incidents
Coordinated handling of the workers' compensation, premises, and regulatory exposure a single incident creates.
Distributor and dealer disputes
Territory, termination, and performance disputes across a distribution network.
Sound familiar?
One Incident, Four Claims
A single event on a plant floor rarely produces a single legal problem. It typically produces these at once, on different timelines and often with different insurers.
Workers' compensation ›
The injured employee's claim, plus the retaliatory discharge exposure created by whatever happens to them afterwards.
Premises or contractor claim
If the injured person was a contractor or visitor rather than an employee, an entirely different claim on different terms.
Equipment or supplier dispute
If a machine or a component failed, a contract and warranty claim against whoever supplied it, with its own notice deadlines.
Regulatory attention
Inspection and enquiry, running in parallel and producing findings that will be used in the civil claims.
Who does this work
Jordan W Gerheim
Commercial, product, and industrial litigation across construction, manufacturing, and insurance contexts.
William R. Lancaster
Four decades defending civil damage claims including industrial accidents, with more than a hundred cases tried to judgment.
Cost and related pages
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Frequently Asked Questions
A supplier delivered non-conforming material and our customer is claiming. What do we do?
Handle both ends at once. Preserve the material and the inspection records, check the notice and rejection deadlines in your supply agreement (they are frequently short and strictly applied) and review what your customer contract says about your own liability. Businesses regularly settle downstream before securing their upstream position, which leaves them carrying a loss that was never theirs.
Equipment failed and caused a shutdown. Can we recover the downtime?
It depends on the agreement. Consequential damages exclusions are near-universal in equipment supply and service contracts, and downtime is usually the classic consequential loss. Whether the exclusion applies, and whether it survives the type of failure that occurred, is worth examining rather than assuming.
Should we report a plant incident to our insurer immediately?
Generally yes, and check which policies may respond. A serious incident can implicate workers' compensation, general liability, product, and equipment coverage simultaneously, each with its own notice condition. Late notice is one of the more avoidable ways to lose coverage you have paid for.
Can one firm really handle all of this?
For a business of most sizes, yes, and it is usually better. The claims share facts, and evidence gathered for one is evidence in the others. Where a specialist is genuinely needed (a technical regulatory matter, or litigation in another jurisdiction) we identify them, brief them, and stay accountable for how the whole thing progresses.
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Before the Machine Goes Back Into Service
Call 251-217-9733 if an incident has just occurred. Otherwise book a Risk-Free Strategy Session and send us the contract.