On October 2 and 3, Womble Bond Dickinson participated in the always successful AHFA Regulatory Summit. This annual event is attended by leaders in the furniture industry as the presenters review significant legal and regulatory issues facing the industry. As it has in the past, Womble Bond Dickinson played an active role in this Summit.

Michael Sullivan (Atlanta) and Patrick Spaugh (Charlotte) spoke on the opening morning of the conference with a presentation on the issue of foreseeable risk and the role it plays in a manufacturer’s liability for consumer misuse of its products. Their presentation began with an overview of the courts’ view of foreseeable risk and liability and followed that overview with a more detailed discussion of the role foreseeable risk plays in both past and future CPSC decisions regarding a manufacturer’s duty to report hazardous conditions. Their message was simple: manufacturers need to be aware of the foreseeable misuse of consumer products both when they design consumer goods and when assessing the legal obligation to report hazardous issues to the CPSC.

On the second day of the Summit, Claire Rauscher (Charlotte) and Whitney Kamerzel (Charlotte) presented the audience with an overview of what good regulatory compliance programs look like. All manufacturers struggle to make sure their design, manufacturing, and supply systems comply with the myriad of state and federal regulatory requirements. Claire and Whitney gave a best practices overview and came up with a simple checklist for manufacturers to follow when tailoring compliance programs to their organizations.

The presentations by the Womble Bond Dickinson team can be found by following the links below.

Click Here to view the AHFA Foreseeable Misuse Presentation

Click Here to view the AHFA Compliance Presentation

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