Michael Harvey

Property Damage, Product Recall & Liability

Michael is a partner and is experienced in handling all types of product liability and recall claims, and property damage claims. His product liability practice includes acting for insurers on behalf retailers, wholesalers suppliers, distributors and manufacturers.

Michael is very experienced in dealing with a wide range of product liability disputes, including claims by consumers, but specialises in particular in complex commercial business-to-business product liability claims between companies in a supply chain, many involving household name corporates.  Many of Michael’s claims have an international dimension and he is experienced in cross-jurisdictional disputes, including those involving USA, Italy, China Denmark, Belgium, Greece, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Netherlands.

Claims handled include: those involving major fire and flood of commercial and residential premises, commercial aircraft, contamination of food products, child car seats, biomass fuel, wind turbines, industrial machinery, agricultural equipment, constructions materials, and many more.

Recent cases include dealing with the Europe-wide recalls of a household name promotional gift product, the world-wide recall of a high end performance car, a DK9m+ fire claim in Denmark, a £3.5m claim currently in the Greek Supreme Court, and a claim in relation to a pipeline for a drinking water project in Egypt which is currently in the Belgian appeal court.

His products practice also includes advising on recalls, and pursuing recovery and contribution claims, including claims against manufacturers in other jurisdictions.

Michael also advises on policy coverage matters on product liability and recall policies. Michael is experienced at achieving successful outcomes for clients through different routes, including the use of mediation, arbitration, adjudication, and taking cases to trial where appropriate. He is also instructed by many large and well-known corporates. 

Willink School, Berkshire; University of Liverpool (1994 LLB Law 2(1)); Nottingham Law School (1996 LPC).