Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
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FEATURE Total Recall From children's toys to cars to pet food to cell phones, 2007 was the year of the recall. Having a plan in place to deal with a recall — before it happens — and executing it properly can mitigate the reputational and brand damage inflicted on a company. By Geoff Kirbyson some company somewhere in the world recalling its product. Perhaps the most gut-wrenching was the spring recall of more than 100 dog and cat food products — most of which were pro- duced by Menu Foods of Streetsville, Ont. — from grocery store shelves in North America, Europe, and South Africa. Hundreds of pets reportedly died from having consumed the primarily "wet" foods, which contained contaminated vegetable proteins imported from China in 2006 and early 2007. There were also two significant recalls this past summer. T Mattel Inc. recalled nearly 20 million toys around the globe due to excessive amounts of lead in certain paints as well as dangers associated with children swallowing small magnets. Within a couple of days, Nokia Corp. recalled more than 46 million cell phone batteries because they were short circuiting and overheating. And in 2006, computer giant Dell Inc. recalled more than four million laptop power packs after a small handful of inci- dents in which the batteries — which were manufactured by Sony Corp. — began smoking or caught on fire. It's enough to cause in-house counsel to pull their hair out in anticipation of the class action lawsuits about to land with a thud on their desks. But while it all sounds like a nightmare, having a plan to deal with a recall and executing it properly can mitigate the repu- tational and brand damage inflicted on a company — and it's even possible to turn the event into a positive development, if it's handled properly. Peter Pliszka, a Toronto-based civil litigation lawyer at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP who specializes in product liability, C ANADIAN Lawyer INHOUSE FEBRU AR Y 2008 7 he Chinese calendar said 2007 was the year of the pig but you could excuse in-house lawyers across the country if they mistakenly thought it was the year of the recall. Hardly a week went by without a news report from