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Full-Text Articles in Torts

Fda Regulatory Compliance Reconsidered, Carl W. Tobias Jan 2008

Fda Regulatory Compliance Reconsidered, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Many observers consider the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vital for the protection of consumer health and safety. One hundred years ago, Congress established the entity that would become the FDA and authorized it to regulate foods and drugs, critical responsibilities that the agency has long discharged carefully. Throughout the past century, the FDA's regulatory power has expanded systematically, albeit gradually, while legislatures and courts in the fifty American jurisdictions broadened liability exposure for manufacturers that sold defective products that injured consumers. Observers have recently criticized the agency for overseeing pharmaceuticals too leniently, even as states increasingly narrowed manufacturers' liability …


Who Knew? Admissibility Of Subsequent Remedial Measures When Defendants Are Without Knowledge Of The Injuries, Mark G. Boyko, Ryan G. Vacca Jan 2007

Who Knew? Admissibility Of Subsequent Remedial Measures When Defendants Are Without Knowledge Of The Injuries, Mark G. Boyko, Ryan G. Vacca

Law Faculty Scholarship

Federal Rule of Evidence 407 prohibits the introduction of subsequent remedial measures for the purposes of demonstrating negligence, culpable conduct, or product defect. But the rule breaks down, in application and purpose, when a defendant undertakes the new safety measure after the plaintiff's injury, but before the defendant had knowledge of the loss. Such a situation is not uncommon. Would-be defendants frequently improve their products and product safety for a variety of reasons. Toxic exposure cases, where exposure often predates diagnosis of the injury by a decade or more, represent a prime example of cases where defendants are likely to …


A Proposed Revision Of Section 402a Of The Restatement (Second) Of Torts, James A. Henderson Jr., Aaron Twerski Sep 1992

A Proposed Revision Of Section 402a Of The Restatement (Second) Of Torts, James A. Henderson Jr., Aaron Twerski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Stargazing: The Future Of American Products Liability Law, James A. Henderson Jr., Aaron Twerski Nov 1991

Stargazing: The Future Of American Products Liability Law, James A. Henderson Jr., Aaron Twerski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Process Norms In Products Litigation: Liability For Allergic Reactions, James A. Henderson Jr. Jul 1990

Process Norms In Products Litigation: Liability For Allergic Reactions, James A. Henderson Jr.

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Doctrinal Collapse In Products Liability: The Empty Shell Of Failure To Warn, James A. Henderson Jr., Aaron Twerski May 1990

Doctrinal Collapse In Products Liability: The Empty Shell Of Failure To Warn, James A. Henderson Jr., Aaron Twerski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Liability for a manufacturer's failure to warn of product-related risks is a well-established feature of modern products liability law. Yet many serious doctrinal and conceptual problems underlie these claims. Professors Henderson and Twerski explore these problems and argue that failure-to-warn jurisprudence is confused, perhaps irreparably, and that this confusion often results in the imposition of excessive liability on manufacturers. The authors begin by exposing basic errors resulting from courts' confusion over whether to apply a strict liability or a negligence standard of care in failure-to-warn cases. Having determined that negligence is the appropriate standard, they then examine more substantial and …


Coping With The Time Dimension In Products Liability, James A. Henderson Jr. Jul 1981

Coping With The Time Dimension In Products Liability, James A. Henderson Jr.

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Extending The Boundaries Of Strict Products Liability: Implications Of The Theory Of The Second Best, James A. Henderson Jr. May 1980

Extending The Boundaries Of Strict Products Liability: Implications Of The Theory Of The Second Best, James A. Henderson Jr.

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Products Liability--Functionally Imposed Strict Liability, David A. Fischer Jan 1979

Products Liability--Functionally Imposed Strict Liability, David A. Fischer

Faculty Publications

Many manufacturers and insurance companies claim that a products liability crisis exists. This is evidenced by soaring products liability insurance rates. They express the fear that as insurance becomes unavailable or prohibitively expensive, useful products will be withheld from the market and some manufacturers may even be forced out of business. Such critics of the tort system are calling for modifications of the common law in order to give greater protection to manufacturers. A more drastic approach, vigorously championed by Professor Jeffrey O'Connell, calls for total or partial abolition of the tort system and substitution with various forms of no-fault …