Butzel Attorneys Featured During 2026 MEMA Commercial Vehicle Outlook Conference on August 26
DETROIT, Mich. – Butzel attorneys and shareholders Daniel R.W. Rustmann and Mitchell ("Mitch") Zajac will be featured presenters during the 2026 MEMA Commercial Vehicle Outlook Conference from 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Wednesday, August 26, 2026 in Livonia. Butzel is proud to sponsor and present the annual conference. The program begins with an evening reception on August 25 followed by a full day of programming on August 26.
The Commercial Vehicle Outlook Conference offers industry professionals an opportunity to stay ahead of key developments shaping the commercial vehicle sector, including:
- Future market outlook and business conditions
- Emerging technologies and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven product development
- Changes in the trailer market
- Current merger and acquisition (M&A) trends and strategic activity
Rustmann and Zajac will present a practical, courtroom-tested guide to negotiating and living with OEM purchase terms. Drawing on real language from Daimler Truck North America (DTNA), Volvo, International, and PACCAR, an American Company that manufacturers heavy-duty trucks, they'll show suppliers how to protect against cost increases, capital and tooling risk, aggressive force majeure, and unlimited warranty and indemnity–and what to do when you're already locked into a tough contract with no price relief. The 2026 session approaches these strategies with the latest rulings reshaping requirements contracts, exit rights, and supplier leverage. If you negotiate, sign, or fight over supply contracts, this is the update you can't afford to miss.
About Daniel Rustmann
Daniel Rustmann is a Co-Chair of Butzel’s Automotive Industry Team and the Global Automotive Coordinating Committee. For more than three decades, Rustmann has devoted his practice to helping clients solve complex business disputes, primarily in the automotive industry. He has successfully represented clients in numerous substantive areas, including product liability defense, Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) warranty, and product defect/recall litigation, class action litigation, and other commercial contract litigation and arbitration. Rustmann frequently serves as an arbitrator, mediator, and court-appointed special master in resolution of automotive industry and other commercial disputes and is a regular speaker and commentator on automotive industry legal issues.
About Mitchell Zajac
Mitchell Zajac counsels and represents professionals in a variety of sectors, large corporations, and entities of all sizes in automotive, intellectual property, regulatory and emissions compliance, to name a few. He is a registered patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Zajac counsels and represents clients in intellectual property (IP) matters such as complex trade secret, copyright, and patent litigation. His experience encompasses IP administrative proceedings, including patent inter partes review (IPR) proceedings, patent prosecution in the USPTO, and advising on patent portfolio development and management. Before joining Butzel, Zajac was an engineer at a Detroit Three automaker.
