Law Commons^™

Formed By Thalidomide: Mass Torts As A False Cure For Toxic Exposure, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Product Liability And Legal Leverage: The Perverse Effect Of Stiff Penalties, Michael S. Knoll

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Product Category Liability: A Critical Analysis, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Professor Wertheimer has proposed that courts be allowed to hold producers strictly liable for product-related injuries, even though their products are not otherwise defective, as long as the overall risks associated with such products outweigh their benefits. However, this would subject the sellers of inherently dangerous products, such as cigarettes, to potentially devastating liability since their products cannot be made less dangerous. There are better ways to control the consumption of hazardous products if society wishes to do so.

Part I of this article discusses the scope and purpose of the defect requirement in section 402A and in the proposed …

Dashing Consumer Hopes: Strict Products Liability And The Demise Of The Consumer Expectations Test, Rebecca Korzec

All Faculty Scholarship

The threshold issue in American products liability litigation is whether the product was defective at the time it left the manufacturer's control. Traditionally, courts and scholars define “defect” in three functional categories: manufacturing defects, design defects and marketing defects. American products liability doctrine employs two major tests to determine whether a "defect” exists: the seller-oriented risk-utility test and the buyer-oriented consumer expectations test. The Draft of the Restatement Third of Torts: Products Liability, like some American jurisdictions, rejects the “consumer expectations” test as an independent standard in defective warning and design cases. Ironically, this limitation of the use of the …

Toward A Proper Test For Design Defectiveness: "Micro-Balancing" Costs And Benefits, David G. Owen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Revisiting The Intersection Of Workers' Compensation And Product Liability: An Assessment Of A Proposed Federal Solution To An Old Problem, Thomas A. Eaton

Scholarly Works

This article addresses a less publicized, but potentially far reaching provision of the Product Liability Legal Reform Act of 1996: the provision pertaining to the intersection of product liability and workers' compensation. The prototypical case is one in which an employee is injured on the job and the injury is caused, at least in part, by a defective product. In many instances, the employer may also be at fault. This scenario potentially calls into play both the product liability and the workers' compensation systems, raising certain relevant questions. Can the employee secure compensation benefits from the employer and tort damages …

Mass Tort Litigation: Congress's Silent, But Deadly, Reform Effort, Mary J. Davis

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article explores the ways in which The Common Sense Product Liability and Legal

Reform Act (“Act”) treats mass tort litigation issues. The Act does so both directly and indirectly. The direct methods of reform are mostly industry-specific and, thus, almost inconsequential in contrast to the indirect treatment. The indirect, almost clandestine, methods of reform are the most insidious and provide the most cause for concern as Congress once again attempts to "reform" products liability by reintroducing the Act in 1997. Given the President's early indication that a reform measure could meet with his approval, but that this one in …

Inside The Restatement, Aaron Twerski

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

How To Make A New Tort: Three Paradoxes, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Arriving At Reasonable Alternative Design: The Reporters' Travelogue, Aaron Twerski, J. A. Henderson

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Managed Care Dilemma: Can Theories Of Tort Liability Adapt To The Realities Of Cost Containment?, Barbara A. Noah

Faculty Scholarship

Over the years, the United States health care system has undergone a transformation from a market comprised mainly of self employed physicians· in solo or small group practices to one in which far fewer physicians engage in this type of independent practice. More than three quarters of the physicians in this country now practice medicine within some form of managed care organization ("MCO") or see some managed care patients. The public increasingly perceives the care provided through MCOs as inferior to traditional feefor-service care. Responding to constituent pressures, legislatures in more than twenty states recently have considered bills regulating managed …

Continuing Classroom Conversation Beyond The Well-Placed "Whys?", Bailey Kuklin, Jeffery J. Stemple

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

"And The Truth Shall Make You Free": Truth As A First Amendment Defense In Tortious Interference With Contract Cases, Robert L. Tucker

Akron Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Paying For Suffering: The Problem Of Human Experimentation, Larry I. Palmer

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Arriving At Reasonable Alternative Design: The Reporters' Travelogue, James A. Henderson Jr., Aaron Twerski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Substantial commentary and controversy have been generated by the requirement in the new Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability that plaintiffs in most (but not all) cases involving claims of defective product design show that a reasonable alternative design was available and that failure to adopt the alternative rendered the defendant's design not reasonably safe. Henderson and Twerski explain the origins of that requirement and show that it is not only the majority position but also comports with widely shared views regarding the proper objectives of our liability system. Although consumer expectations cannot serve as a workable, stand-alone test for …

Female Trouble: The Implications Of Tort Reform For Women, Lucinda M. Finley

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Pink Elephants In The Rape Trial: The Problem Of Tort-Type Defenses In The Criminal Law Of Rape, Aya Gruber

Publications

No abstract provided.

Class Action Chaos? The Theory Of The Core And An Analysis Of Opt-Out Rights In Mass Tort Class Actions, Michael A. Perino

Faculty Publications

From breast implants to cigarettes, mass tort class actions are a prominent and controversial part of the contemporary litigation landscape. A critical component of these actions is the ability of class members to “opt out” and thereby exclude themselves from the effect of any class judgment. The tension between individual autonomy and the desire for global resolution of mass controversies has led to an intense debate concerning the circumstances under which opt-out rights should be constrained, if at all.

This Article makes five distinct contributions to the class action literature. First, the Article applies the game theoretic concept of the …

"Countering Stereotypes." Review Of Medical Malpractice And The American Jury: Confronting The Myths About Jury Incompetence, Deep Pockets, And Outrageous Damage Awards, By N. Vidmar, Samuel R. Gross

Reviews

The story of The Medical Malpractice Trial has a place in popular American legal culture, somewhere on the shelf with Killers Who Got Off on Technicalities. The plot is simple and tragic. The protagonist is the Doctor, a good man with a flaw: He tries too hard. In the process, he makes an innocent mistake or believes he can prevent the unpreventable. In any event, he fails and the Patient dies or is permanently injured. For this unintentional error the Doctor is crucified, by the vengeful anger of the Patient or her survivors, the avarice of the plaintiffs' lawyer, the …

Beyond Formalism And False Dichotomies: The Need For Institutionalizing A Flexible Concept Of The Mediator's Role, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Related to the problem of the false dichotomy is the formalist application of the either/or construct. If, for example, one adopts as a first premise the view that mediation is by definition non-evaluative, and then rigidly applies this premise to issues of appropriate mediator behavior, the result is a formalist system that permits mediators little or no leeway to depart from the non-evaluative style. This sort of regulatory regimen may satisfy the non-evaluative ethos of some mediation scholars, but it does so at the risk of becoming a rigid system that prevents mediators from taking practical actions most appropriate to …

Article 5 - Recent Developments, James J. White

Other Publications

I. Mitigation in Letter of Credit Transactions Assume a Buyer has procured a letter of credit to pay for contracted goods but no longer wants the goods. The Buyer and the Issuer would like to force the Beneficiary to mitigate. Assume that both the Issuer and Applicant repudiate their obligation or that the Applicant has failed and the Issuer repudiates its obligation to pay under the letter of credit. At the moment of repudiation the price for a gallon of the underlying oil that is the subject of the letter of credit is $.75 and that the letter of credit …

Ohio Tort Reform In 1998: The War Continues, Stephen J. Werber

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

For more than a decade a war has been waged between forces seeking legislative reform of tort law, with emphasis on product liability, and the Ohio Supreme Court. The battleground has been the legislative enactments of the Ohio General Assembly. This legislation has faced consistent challenge before the court as a proper exercise of its power of judicial review. Time and time again the court's philosophical approach, predicated on a need to protect injured parties and guarantee compensation for harm, has led to determinations that given legislation fails constitutional scrutiny. In a real sense, the Court has become a super …

Causation And The Discretionary Function Exception To The Federal Tort Claims Act, Richard Henry Seamon

Articles

No abstract provided.

Liability For Prescribing Intravenous Injection Equipment To Iv Drug Users, Maxwell J. Mehlman

Faculty Publications

In the absence of widespread publicly sponsored needle exchange programs, the proposal has been made that physicians prescribe syringes and needles to intravenous (IV) drug users in order to reduce the risk of infection from HIV and other diseases that could result from needle sharing. One question is whether physicians who engage in this behavior, as well as pharmacists who fill the prescriptions, face a significant threat of malpractice liability if the IV drug user or someone else, perhaps an innocent bystander, is harmed as a result of the prescribed equipment. No such cases have been reported, per- haps because …

Tort Reform In Mississippi: An Appraisal Of The New Law Of Products Liability, Part Ii, Phillip L. Mcintosh

Journal Articles

In 1993, the Mississippi legislature enacted the Mississippi Products Liability Act, the substantive portions of which became effective on July 1, 1994. Part I of this Article, previously published, discussed the purpose of the new Act; the definitions of basic terms of art used in the Act - such as "product," including whether used products are covered by the Act, "manufacturer," "seller," and "unreasonably dangerous"; and the interests protected by the Act. Part II of this article addresses the categories of defects forming the bases of claims for damages created by the Act, the liability of sellers and manufacturers, defenses …

Limits On Preemption And Punitive Damages: Can They Be Related?, Peter Zablotsky

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Conflicts And Defense Lawyers: From Triangles To Tetrahedrons, Tom Baker

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A National Product Liability Statute Of Repose - Let's Not, Stephen J. Werber

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Despite the failure of the 104th Congress to override President Clinton's veto and enact the Common Sense Product Liability Legal Reform Act, there is little doubt that such an Act will be passed by the 105th Congress. Uniform national laws concerning product liability are necessary, can be enacted consistent with Congressional authority, and should be enacted at the earliest possible time. A balanced Act, recognizing the need to protect injured consumers while providing necessary protection to product manufacturers and distributors, can be drafted. Such an Act could include provisions that abolish the consumer expectancy test for design defect litigation, reject …

International Jurisdiction In Products Liability Cases (Analysis Of Asahi And Post-Asahi Cases), Tsutomu Kuribayashi

LLM Theses and Essays

With the increase of foreign trade, there has also been an increase in the number of foreign manufacturers and distributors involved in product liability litigation in the United States. In many cases, the products from these foreign manufacturers and distributors reach the forum states through the stream of commerce, and are distributed to the customers by regional distributors, wholesalers, and retailers. Therefore, in many product liability cases where defective products from these foreign manufacturers and distributors cause injuries to people in the United States, those foreign companies do not have a direct relationship with the forum states. In these cases, …

Lovewell V. Physicians Insurance Co.: Personal Liability For Prejudgment Interest, Karin M. Mika

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article looks at the Supreme Court of Ohio's decision in Lovewell v. Physicians Insurance Co. and the variety of issues and unanswered questions the decision presents relating to insurance law. First, it may no longer be assumed that the insurer acts in tandem with the insured when the insurer is defending a suit brought against the covered individual. Secondly, the Lovewell decision seems to be contrary to one of the basic tenets of insurance law – that an insurance contract must be construed liberally in favor of the insured and strictly against the insurer. Third, the decision gives insureds …