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Full-Text Articles in Law

Strict Liability In Tort: A Modest Proposal, David G. Epstein Jan 1967

Strict Liability In Tort: A Modest Proposal, David G. Epstein

Law Faculty Publications

Centuries ago, the noted Irish satirist, Jonathan Swift, made a "modest proposal' that the inhabitants of the Emerald Isle remedy a severe food shortage they were experiencing by eating their young. To some, a proposal of the adoption of strict liability in tort-regardless of how limited-is no more a modest proposal than Mr. Swift's. It is submitted that this opposition to strict liability in tort is at least in part due to a misunderstanding of the present state of the law as to a manufacturer's liability to injured consumers. In most jurisdictions, the adoption of strict liability in tort for …


Res Ipsa Loquitur In Joint Tortfeasor Cases, William B. Nagy Jan 1967

Res Ipsa Loquitur In Joint Tortfeasor Cases, William B. Nagy

Cleveland State Law Review

Generally it has been held that the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is not applicable against multiple defendants where it is not shown that their liability was joint or that they were in joint or exclusive control of the injury-producing factor, or where the specific wrongdoer, among several possible, was not identified. A fundamental principle of res ipsa loquitur is that it is available to a plaintiff only when it operates substantially to identify the probable wrongdoer in a given situation. Conversely, the doctrine has been held applicable against multiple defendants where they are properly charged as joint tortfeasors on …