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Articles 1 - 17 of 17
Full-Text Articles in Law
Proximity-Driven Liability, Bryant Walker Smith
Proximity-Driven Liability, Bryant Walker Smith
Faculty Publications
This working paper argues that commercial sellers’ growing information about, access to, and control over their products, product users, and product uses could significantly expand their point-of-sale and post-sale obligations toward people endangered by these products. The paper first describes how companies are embracing new technologies that expand their information, access, and control, with primary reference to the increasingly automated and connected motor vehicle. It next analyzes how this proximity to product, user, and use could impact product-related claims for breach of implied warranty, defect in design or information, post-sale failure to warn or update, and negligent enabling of a …
Strict Products Liability At 50: Four Histories, Kyle Graham
Strict Products Liability At 50: Four Histories, Kyle Graham
Faculty Publications
This article offers four different perspectives on the strict products-liability "revolution" that climaxed a half-century ago. One of these narratives relates the prevailing assessment of how this innovation coalesced and spread across the states. The three alternative histories introduced by this article both challenge and complement the standard account by viewing the shift toward strict products liability through "populist," "practical," and "contingent" lenses, respectively. The first of these narratives considers the contributions that plaintiffs and their counsel made toward this change in the law. The second focuses upon how certain types of once-common products cases forged a practical argument for …
Technology Drives The Law: A Foreword To Trends And Issues In Techology & The Law, Ralph D. Clifford
Technology Drives The Law: A Foreword To Trends And Issues In Techology & The Law, Ralph D. Clifford
Faculty Publications
Technology has always been a motivating force of change in the law. The creation of new machines and development of novel methods of achieving goals force the law to adapt with new and responsive rules. This is particularly true whenever a new technology transforms society. Whether it is increasing industrialization or computerization, pre-existing legal concepts rarely survive the transition unaltered - new prescriptions are announced while old ones disappear.
Thoughts On Preemption In The Wake Of The Levine Decision, Erika Lietzan, Sarah E. Pitlyk
Thoughts On Preemption In The Wake Of The Levine Decision, Erika Lietzan, Sarah E. Pitlyk
Faculty Publications
This article discusses the prospects for preemption doctrine in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Wyeth v. Levine. Part I describes the Levine decision. Part II examines the majority’s holding as it relates to impossibility preemption and considers the future of the doctrine in failure-to-warn suits after Levine. We argue that the announced standard for impossibility preemption — the clear evidence standard — should be interpreted reasonably and not in a manner that effectively eviscerates the doctrine. We also describe other instances of impossibility in the food and drug regulatory context that were not presented to the Court. …
Design Defects, David G. Owen
Special Defenses In Products Liability Law, David G. Owen
Special Defenses In Products Liability Law, David G. Owen
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Proving Negligence In Products Liability Litigation, David G. Owen
Proving Negligence In Products Liability Litigation, David G. Owen
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Federal Preemption Of Products Liability Claims, David G. Owen
Federal Preemption Of Products Liability Claims, David G. Owen
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Toward A Unified Theory Of Products Liability: Reviving The Causative Concept Of Legal Fault, Elizabeth Price Foley, Elizabeth C. Price
Toward A Unified Theory Of Products Liability: Reviving The Causative Concept Of Legal Fault, Elizabeth Price Foley, Elizabeth C. Price
Faculty Publications
This paper explores the concept of "causative" fault – with an emphasis on proximate and actual cause – as a substitute for modern strict liability.
Musings On Modern Products Liability Law: A Foreward, David Owen
Musings On Modern Products Liability Law: A Foreward, David Owen
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Foreward: The Use And Control Of Punitive Damages, David Owen
Foreward: The Use And Control Of Punitive Damages, David Owen
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Products Liability--An Analysis Of Market Share Liability, David A. Fischer
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.
Rethinking The Policies Of Strict Products Liability, David G. Owen
Rethinking The Policies Of Strict Products Liability, David G. Owen
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Role Of Misuse In Products Liability Litigation, David A. Fischer
Role Of Misuse In Products Liability Litigation, David A. Fischer
Faculty Publications
Misuse is puzzling. Sometimes it cuts off liability and sometimes it does not, but courts have failed to clarify exactly what sort of conduct qualifies as the type of misuse that bars recovery. Generally speaking misuse takes two forms, abnormal use and mishandling. Abnormal use comes about when a product is used for an improper purpose; mishandling comes about when a product is used for a proper purpose but in an improper manner. Under this definition defendants can claim that virtually any unusual handling or use of a product constitutes misuse. Yet courts will not always accept this characterization. They …
The Highly Blameworthy Manufacturer: Implications On Rules Of Liability And Defense In Products Liability Actions, David Owen
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Punitive Damages In Products Liability Litigation, David Owen
Punitive Damages In Products Liability Litigation, David Owen
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Products Liability--The Meaning Of Defect, David A. Fischer
Products Liability--The Meaning Of Defect, David A. Fischer
Faculty Publications
In the products liability area the pendulum has now swung back to the imposition of strict liability. This transition, beginning with the elimination of the privity requirement in negligence actions, continuing with the imposition of strict liability under a warranty theory, and culminating in the development of a tort theory of recovery in strict liability, has been well-documented.