Tanenbaum Keale associate Timothy R. Freeman was recently published by Law360 on how to address the issues that arise with other similar incident (OSI) evidence in product liability litigation.
He writes that “while truly similar incidents may be relevant and admissible, far too often valuable time and resources are wasted fighting about alleged other similar incidents that are not at all similar and have the potential to seriously mislead and prejudice the jury.”
Freeman adds that when a lawsuit is filed, counsel should reach out to their client and “learn as much as possible about the scope of other similar incident evidence that exists and evaluate the degree to which it is similar to the incident at issue. A strategy to exclude such evidence and testimony should be developed and considered at the outset, and it should shape the written discovery process and assist in preparation for depositions of corporate representatives and experts.”