Law Commons^™

Products Liability Tort Reform: Why Virginia Should Adopt The Henderson-Twerski Proposed Revision Of Section 402a Restatement (Second) Of Torts, Peter Nash Swisher

University of Richmond Law Review

Over the past three decades, literally thousands of American products liability judicial opinions have explicitly referred to, and analyzed, section 402A of the Second Restatement of Torts. At least thirty-four states have judicially adopted section 402A, and

five other states have passed specific statutes adopting the section.3 Since the landmark products liability case of Greenman v. Yuba Power Products,Inc.4 in 1963, at least forty-five states have now adopted some form of strict liability in tort remedy in American products liability actions.5 Only Virginia and four other states do

not recognize a strict liability in tort remedy applied to state prod- …

Blood Bank And Blood Products Manufacturer Liability In Transfusion-Related Aids Cases, Dana J. Finberg

University of Richmond Law Review

Can a blood bank or a blood products manufacturer be held liable if a patient contracts AIDS through a transfusion of blood or a blood product? And, if so, should the bank or manufacturer be held liable? As of February 1989, approximately 200 cases touching on this issue were pending in the United States.

The Collision Of Tort And Contract In The Construction Industry, Murray H. Wright, Edward E. Nicholas Iii

University of Richmond Law Review

Over the past two decades, several courts have allowed construction industry plaintiffs to assert tort claims to recover for purely economic losses (i.e. other than injury to person or property) from other participants in the construction process. Parties assert tort claims, instead of or in addition to contract claims, to take advantage of the more liberal tort damage rules and, probably more importantly, to escape unfavorable contract provisions. This article briefly discusses the different origins and goals of tort and contract law. It then reviews some of the decisions allowing recovery of purely economic losses in tort as well as …

Toxic Substances Litigation In The Fourth Circuit, Francis E. Mcgovern

University of Richmond Law Review

Personal injuries caused by toxic substances have generated problems of major concern to our social, political and legal systems. Reports in the news media concerning harm caused by toxic substances and expressions of public awareness of potential dangers associated with exposure to toxic substances are commonplace. Legislatures, administrative agencies and courts at both federal and state levels have begun to devote substantial energy to addressing issues raised by exposure to toxic Substances. Scientific, industrial, financial, and legal communities are seeking to deal with these problems from a number of different perspectives. Just as terms such as "Love Canal" and "asbestosis" …

Products Liability And The Virginia Statute Of Limitations - A Call For The Legislative Rescue Squad, Robert I. Stevenson

University of Richmond Law Review

In recent years a flood of federally-funded scientific break-throughs have on almost a weekly basis established that some form of cancer or other dreaded disease is "caused" by exposure to a man-made product often not previously suspected of having a toxic tendency. Persons so afflicted then seek recovery from the product manufacturer. Their basis in tort is either for negligence in producing so harmful (and thus defective) a product, or for having failed to warn of the danger, or for "strict liability" within Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. Where, as in Virginia, there is uncertainty as to …

Virginia Should Adopt Strict Tort Recovery In Products Liability, John P. Rowley Iii, Sally Y. Wood

University of Richmond Law Review

Since World War H, revolutionary changes have overtaken the American law of products liability. Such changes have been in response to the increase in consumer injuries resulting from defects in sophisticated products mass-produced by sophisticated manufacturing processes. This has occurred during a time of increased litigiousness and general awareness of the need for consumer protection. Accordingly, products liability suits have multiplied, and the legal theories used to determine the outcome of such suits have similarly been in an era of dramatic transition. Such legal changes have significantly affected both tort and warranty law across the country. Until 1960 products liability …

A Guide To Federal Warranty Legislation-The Magnuson-Moss Act, Richard H. Matthews

University of Richmond Law Review

One of the primary causes of concern in the recent movement toward greater consumer protection has been in the area of product warranties. Limited express warranties, liability disclaimers and ambiguous remedy

procedures often have been used by manufacturers and merchants to strip the consumer of all but a bare minimum of protection against defective products. Finding state laws incapable of adequately solving this problem, Congress preempted the field by enacting the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.' This Act makes major changes in the law of warranties and places much heavier legal burdens upon manufacturers and other warrantors. This comment will attempt to …

Uniform Commercial Code- Breach Of Warranty- Applicable Statute Of Limitations For Personal Injury

University of Richmond Law Review

Statutes of limitation are statutes of repose, the object of which is to compel the exercise of a right of action within a reasonable time. They are designed to suppress fraudulent and stale claims from being asserted after a great lapse of time, to the surprise of the parties, when the evidence may have been lost, the facts may have become obscure because of defective memory, or the witnesses have died or dis- appeared.