Law Commons^™

Developing Rational Standards For An Advertising Subsitution Policy, Charles Shafer

All Faculty Scholarship

American annual consumer expenditures of nearly two trillion dollars involve approximately sixty-four percent of the country's Gross National Product. A substantial portion of those consumer purchases result in some sort of dissatisfaction. The term 'consumer dissatisfaction’ represents a large continuum of feelings ranging from mild disappointment to all consuming rage. Consumer dissatisfaction is a serious societal problem for a variety of reasons. It indicates a misallocation of scarce resources. It can be a significant factor in producing the perception that the economic and political institutions are unfair, ineffective, or unresponsive. That perception can have wide ranging political ramifications. Finally, it …

Informational Hearing On Computers And Warranty Protection For Consumers, California State Assembly

California Assembly

No abstract provided.

Tort Law: Expanding The Scope Of Recovery Without Loss Of Jury Control, David A. Fischer

Faculty Publications

This article will analyze the types of changes that are taking place by examining three expanding areas of tort law: liability for negligently inflicted mental distress, negligently inflicted pure pecuniary loss, and harm caused by defective products. This examination will demonstrate that the scope of liability can be increased in at least two ways. One is by formally expanding the scope of existing causes of action, e.g., relaxing arbitrary barriers to liability or expanding the type of damages which may be recovered. A second method is by relaxing judicial control over the jury. This relaxation of control can take place …

Products Liability--An Analysis Of Market Share Liability, David A. Fischer

Faculty Publications

In Sindell v. Abbott Laboratories the Supreme Court of California created the market share liability theory of recovery for products liability cases. The innovative Sindell theory, which applies to certain products liability cases in which causation is either questionable or difficult to prove, departed significantly from the traditional tort principles of causation and liability. The theory allows plaintiffs to recover damages for their injuries, but it discounts the defendant's liability by the probability that it did not cause the harm.

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 …

Products Liability--Applicability Of Comparative Negligence, David A. Fischer

Faculty Publications

Products liability and comparative negligence are two very rapidly developing fields of tort law. In recent years, the vast majority of courts have adopted strict liability for harm caused by defective products. At the same time, the doctrine of comparative negligence has changed almost overnight from a doctrine that had been accepted by only a handful of jurisdictions into what is now the majority approach in this country.

State Consumer Protection In A Federal System, Robert M. O'Neil

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Increasing interest in consumerism has brought intensified efforts at every level of government to protect the consumer. While federal regulation seems desirable for nationally marketed products and interstate activities, the states retain the duty to protect the health and safety of their citizens. Where state regulation is more restrictive than concurrent federal regulation, however, the constitutional issue of preemption arises.

This Article analyzes the factors which have influenced the courts in resolving conflicts between federal and state regulation in the consumer field. Emphasizing the need for concurrent regulation, the author formulates guidelines by which the courts can examine the purposes …

Cure And Revocation For Quality Defects: The Utility Of Bargains, Alan Schwartz

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Optimality And The Cutoff Of Defenses Against Financers Of Consumer Sales, Alan Schwartz

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Technology Assessment And Social Control, Michael S. Baram

Faculty Scholarship

The emerging concepts of corporate responsibility and technology assessment are, to a considerable extent, responses to problems arising from technological developments and their applications by industry and government. These problems appear in the relatively discrete sectors of consumer protection and occupational safety and in the diffuse sectors of community quality of life and the national and international environments.

Consumer Sensitivity To Interest Rates: An Empirical Study Of New-Car Buyers And Auto Loans, James J. White, Frank W. Munger

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Address On Consumer Credit Protection Legislation, William J. Pierce

Addison Harris Lecture

No abstract provided.

The Consumer As King: The Economics Of Precarious Sovereignty, Robert L. Birmingham

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Abc's Of Products Liability -- With A Close Look At Section 402a And The Code, Reed Dickerson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Consumer Legislation And The Poor, Eric Schnapper

Articles

No abstract provided.

Recent Developments In Food Products Liability, F. Reed Dickerson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Basis Of Strict Products Liability, Reed Dickerson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This paper was presented before the Division of Food Drug Cosmetic Law, Section of Corporation, Banking and Business Law of the American Bar Association at the Annual Meeting in St. Louis, August 9. It Is a companion paper to "Restatement or Reformation?" by William J. Condon, which appeared in the August, 1961 issue of this magazine. Mr. Dickerson Is Professor of Law at Indiana University and author of Products Liability and the Food Consumer.

The Expanding Risks Of Products Liability, Reed Dickerson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Consumer Protection And The Public Interest, Reed Dickerson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.