Margaret Langdon | Langdon & Emison

Margaret Langdon practices from the firm’s Independence, Mo., office, where she is a member of complex tort teams. She joined L&E from the Cass County Prosecutor’s Office, where she served as Director of Child Support Enforcement for the county. She was also responsible for the county’s Treatment Court programs and first chaired a felony trial.

Before working at Cass County, Margaret interned at the Johnson County District Attorney’s office. There she managed a case load of misdemeanor offenses, including those set for trial. While in Johnson County, she served as second chair of a felony trial.

Margaret was identified by The National Trial Lawyers as one of the top civil litigators under 40 for plaintiffs in 2025. She is an active member of the Cass County Bar Association and several lawyer associations. While at the University of Kansas School of Law, she received the CALI Award in advanced litigation. During those years she was on KU’s mock trial team and competed in three competitions. She also during law school clerked for the Missouri Court of Appeals.

John A. Yanchunis | Morgan and Morgan

John A. Yanchunis leads the Class Action Department of the firm. Mr. Yanchunis’ practice which began after completing a two-year clerkship with United States District Judge Carl O. Bue, Jr., Southern District of Texas has concentrated on complex litigation and spans over 36 years, including class actions for almost two thirds of that time.

Mr. Yanchunis has served as lead, co-lead, or class counsel in numerous class actions in a wide variety of areas affecting consumers, including but not limited to anti-trust, civil rights, defective products, environmental claims, life insurance, annuities, and unfair and deceptive practices. He has been appointed by courts to leadership positions in multidistrict class action litigation, and presently serves as the lead in In re: Yahoo! Inc. Customer Data Breach Security Litigation, 5:16-md-02752 (N.D. Cal.), as a member of the plaintiffs’ steering committee In re Equifax, Inc. Customer Data Sec. Breach Litig., 1:17-md-02800 (N.D. Ga.); on the three-member Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in MDL No. 2664, In re: U.S. Office Personnel Management Data Security Breach Litigation, and serves on the Executive Committee overseeing the consumer class, the financial institution class, and the shareholder derivative litigation pending against Target Corporation one of the largest data-breach cases to date in In re Target Corporation Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, MDL No. 2522 (D. Minn.).

As a result of his experience in insurance and complex litigation, beginning in 2005, Mr. Yanchunis served as lead counsel for the Florida Department of Financial Services and the Florida Department of Insurance Regulation (the insurance regulators of Florida) in their investigation of the insurance industry on issues concerning possible antitrust activity and other possible unlawful activities regarding the payment of undisclosed compensation to insurance brokers. Mr. Yanchunis served as lead regulator counsel and worked with a core group of state Attorneys General from the National Association of Attorneys General, which were selected to conduct the investigations. The insurance regulators for Florida was the only insurance regulators in the group. The litigation that was filed and the other investigations recovered millions of dollars in restitution for Florida consumers and resulted in significant changes in the way commercial insurance is sold in Florida and across the country.

During his career, Mr. Yanchunis has tried numerous cases in state and federal courts, including one of the largest and longest insurance coverage cases in U.S. history, which was filed in 1991 by The Celotex Corporation and its subsidiary, Carey Canada, Inc. During the seventeen years the case was pending, Mr. Yanchunis served as lead counsel for several insurance companies, regarding coverage for asbestos and environmental claims. The case was tried in three phases over several years beginning in 1992. Mr. Yanchunis was also lead counsel for these parties in the subsequent appeals which followed a judgment in favor of his clients.

I. Vehicle technology and crash causation | 1:00pm – 1:15pm

• Understanding the role of a vehicle in a crash
• Introduction to Collision Avoidance Technology (CAT) systems
• When technology fails or never shows up
  • Failure to equip: A common yet underutilized theory
  • CAT malfunctions and liability: When the system fails
  • Commercial vehicles: Heavy trucks and the duty to retrofit

II. Product defects and liability foundations | 1:15pm – 1:30pm

• Types of product defects
  • Design defect: Risk-utility vs. consumer expectations
  • Manufacturing defect: Deviation from intended design
  • Marketing defect: Failure to warn or inadequate labeling
• Liability theories
  • Strict liability (restatement second and third of torts)
  • Negligence: Duty, foreseeability, and causation
  • Breach of warranty: Express and implied

III. Common defenses in product and vehicle cases | 1:30pm – 1:45pm

• Driver error and comparative fault
• Cost and feasibility arguments
• “Optional equipment” defense
• State of the art and preemption

IV. Consumer class action structure and strategy | 1:45pm – 2:00pm

• Rule 23 requirements
  • Numerosity
  • Commonality
  • Typicality
  • Adequacy
  • Predominance and superiority
• Class certification trends
  • Circuit-level variations
  • Daubert challenges at certification
• Settlement considerations
  • Cy Pres distributions
  • Notice adequacy
  • Fairness hearings
• Opt-out vs. Opt-in classes
  • Strategic implications
  • Enforcement and response rates

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

V. Litigation strategy and case management | 2:10pm – 2:30pm

• Plaintiff-side considerations
  • Client intake and case valuation
  • Commonality across product versions or vehicle models
  • Expert testimony in causation and damages
• Defense-side strategies
  • Early motions to dismiss or strike class allegations
  • Individualized issue challenges
  • Arbitration clauses and class action waivers
• The role of Multidistrict Litigation (MDL)
  • Coordination of class and individual claims
  • Bellwether trials and settlement leverage

VI. Case studies and key precedents | 2:30pm – 2:40pm

• Takata airbags
• Johnson and Johnson Talc
• Volkswagen “Dieselgate”
• CAT system and vehicle automation claims
• Lessons for practitioners
  • Regulatory interplay (NHTSA, FDA, CPSC, EPA)
  • Evidence preservation and e-discovery
  • Public relations and reputational impact

VII. Regulatory and legislative environment | 2:40pm – 2:50pm

• Federal agency oversight
  • National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
  • Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
  • Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Preemption challenges
  • Medical devices (Riegel v. Medtronic)
  • Drug labeling (Wyeth v. Levine)
• Arbitration and class waivers
  • Forced arbitration clauses
  • State legislative responses

VIII. Emerging issues and future trends | 2:50pm – 3:00pm

• Artificial intelligence and smart product liability
  • Autonomous and connected system failures
  • Software defects and update liability
• ESG and corporate accountability
  • Investor and public scrutiny
  • Shareholder derivative actions
• Technology and digital class actions
  • Data breaches as product cases
  • Algorithmic bias and discrimination claims
• The future of auto product defect cases