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Torts

University of Michigan Law School

Res ipsa loquitur

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Evidence

Torts And Innovation, Gideon Parchomovsky, Alex Stein Nov 2008

Torts And Innovation, Gideon Parchomovsky, Alex Stein

Michigan Law Review

This Essay exposes and analyzes a hitherto overlooked cost of tort law: its adverse effect on innovation. Tort liability for negligence, defective products, and medical malpractice is determined by reference to custom. We demonstrate that courts' reliance on custom and conventional technologies as the benchmark of liability chills innovation and distorts its path. Specifically, recourse to custom taxes innovators and subsidizes replicators of conventional technologies. We explore the causes and consequences of this phenomenon and propose two possible ways to modify tort law in order to make it more welcoming to innovation.


Probability Theory Meets Res Ipsa Loquitur, David Kaye Jun 1979

Probability Theory Meets Res Ipsa Loquitur, David Kaye

Michigan Law Review

This Article uses probability theory normatively in an effort to clarify one aspect of the famous tort doctrine known as res ipsa loquitur. It does not urge that jurors be instructed in probability theory or be equipped with microprocessors. Rather, it seeks an accurate statement of the res ipsa doctrine in ordinary language. In particular, this Article will show that the conventional formulation of the doctrine is misleading at best, and should be replaced with a more careful statement of the conditions warranting the res ipsa inference. To this end, Section I briefly surveys the legal doctrine, or, more precisely, …


Negligence - Res Ipsa Loquitur - Doctine Applied Although Damage Causing Instrumentality Within The Exclusive Control Of Defendant At The Time Of The Damage, Kenneth Laing Jr. Nov 1960

Negligence - Res Ipsa Loquitur - Doctine Applied Although Damage Causing Instrumentality Within The Exclusive Control Of Defendant At The Time Of The Damage, Kenneth Laing Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Seven months after defendant had installed a washbowl in a bathroom in plaintiff's house, the house was damaged by water when one of the pipes became disconnected from a faucet. During the two weeks immediately prior to the damage the house was unoccupied, but inspections were made every two or three days by plaintiff's employee. Plaintiff sued defendant to recover for the damage caused by defendant's alleged negligence in connecting the water pipe to the washbowl. In a trial to the court, the evidence tended to eliminate other possible causes of the disconnection, such as rough use or manufacturing fault. …


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review Jun 1922

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

No abstract provided.