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Products liability

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Judicial Experimentation With A Strict Products Liability Rule: A Comparison Of The Law In The United Kingdom, Louisiana, And United States' Common Law Jurisdictions, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Catherine Garvey Apr 2016

Judicial Experimentation With A Strict Products Liability Rule: A Comparison Of The Law In The United Kingdom, Louisiana, And United States' Common Law Jurisdictions, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Catherine Garvey

Thomas Carbonneau

Since the mid-nineteenth century, products liability law has undergone significant modifications. The applicable doctrine has oscillated between contract and tort theories; fault and no-fault liability schemes have competed for predominance. Despite attempts to create an internationally accepted liability norm, different legal systems continue to espouse differing perceptions of the liability formula in the products area. In addition, even in jurisdictions in which courts adhere to identical liability theories, there is disagreement as to the application and implications of the same standard. This article attempts to set the shifting doctrinal character of products liability analysis into a comparative perspective principally between …


Preface To The Gateway Thread, Deborah Post Mar 2016

Preface To The Gateway Thread, Deborah Post

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.


Where's The Sense In Hill V. Gateway 2000?: Reflections On The Visible Hand Of Norm Creation, Shubha Ghosh Mar 2016

Where's The Sense In Hill V. Gateway 2000?: Reflections On The Visible Hand Of Norm Creation, Shubha Ghosh

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.


Cognition And Common Sense In Contract Law, Beverly Horsburgh, Andrew Cappel Mar 2016

Cognition And Common Sense In Contract Law, Beverly Horsburgh, Andrew Cappel

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.


Common Sense And Contract Law: Fear Of A Normative Planet?, Thomas Joo Mar 2016

Common Sense And Contract Law: Fear Of A Normative Planet?, Thomas Joo

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.


Driverless Cars And The Much Delayed Tort Law Revolution, Andrzej Rapaczynski Jan 2016

Driverless Cars And The Much Delayed Tort Law Revolution, Andrzej Rapaczynski

Faculty Scholarship

The most striking development in the American tort law of the last century was the quick rise and fall of strict manufacturers’ liability for the huge social losses associated with the use of industrial products. The most important factor in this process has been the inability of the courts and academic commentators to develop a workable theory of design defects, resulting in a wholesale return of negligence as the basis of products liability jurisprudence. This article explains the reasons for this failure and argues that the development of digital technology, and the advent of self-driving cars in particular, is likely …


Product Recalls: Why Is Tort Law Deferring To Agency Inaction?, Jill W. Lens Dec 2015

Product Recalls: Why Is Tort Law Deferring To Agency Inaction?, Jill W. Lens

Jill Wieber Lens

Tort law currently recognizes liability related to a product recall in only narrow circumstances. Liability is possible if the manufacturer acts unreasonably in an agency-ordered recall or in a voluntary recall, which is likely the result of agency encouragement. What this narrow standard leaves out is possible liability for a manufacturer’s choice to simply not recall. But courts agree that only government agencies are equipped to evaluate the reasonableness of a recall and to determine if one is justified. Thus, if an agency never effects a product recall, tort liability is not possible.

A few commentators have applauded or criticized …


The Products Liability Crisis: Modest Proposals For Legislative Reform, William P. Bivins Jr. Aug 2015

The Products Liability Crisis: Modest Proposals For Legislative Reform, William P. Bivins Jr.

Akron Law Review

This article will attempt to identify some of the sources of the problems which are adversely affecting the system of products liability litigation and will offer proposals for reform within the framework of the law of products liability.


Products Liability: Toward Balancing The Scales, Donald M. Jenkins Aug 2015

Products Liability: Toward Balancing The Scales, Donald M. Jenkins

Akron Law Review

The evolution and application of products liability law continues to be one of the most dynamic developments in the law. This issue of the Akron Law Review is dedicated to presenting and exploring recent significant developments.


What Types Of Losses Are Recoverable Under Arkansas' Products Liability Law, Rodney A. Smolla Jul 2015

What Types Of Losses Are Recoverable Under Arkansas' Products Liability Law, Rodney A. Smolla

Rod Smolla

Not available.


Legal And Social Implications Of The 3d Printing Revolution, Alexander J. Mendoza Jan 2015

Legal And Social Implications Of The 3d Printing Revolution, Alexander J. Mendoza

CMC Senior Theses

ABSTRACT

Emerging 3D printing technologies bring with it the potential to transform everyday consumers into manufacturers of every product imaginable. However, this impending wave of newfound technological capability is bound to crash against our present conventional system of laws and regulations. In this paper, the strengths and weaknesses of our current intellectual property framework are examined, and its ability to tackle the future 3D printing market is assessed. Particular attention is paid to our modern formation of copyright and patent law, including an analysis of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the Repair-Reconstruction Doctrine and other substantial legal protocol. The …


“Danger Is My Business”: The Right To Manufacture Unsafe Products, Richard C. Ausness Dec 2014

“Danger Is My Business”: The Right To Manufacture Unsafe Products, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

While no one would dispute that safety is a desirable objective, it may not always be an absolute priority. Rather, in some cases, other societal interests such as personal autonomy, consumer choice, product cost, and performance may trump legitimate safety goals. This is reflected in some of the doctrines and defenses that have evolved to protect the producers of unsafe products against tort liability. Some of these doctrines, such as those determining liability for the producers of optional safety equipment, inherently dangerous products, products with obvious hazards, and prescription drugs and medical devices, are part of the law of products …


Not Just For Products Liability: Applying The Economic Loss Rule Beyond Its Origins, Danielle Sawaya Nov 2014

Not Just For Products Liability: Applying The Economic Loss Rule Beyond Its Origins, Danielle Sawaya

Fordham Law Review

Most litigants, if given the chance, prefer to assert tort theories to recover their economic losses, rather than rely on the remedies provided under contract law. This is primarily because plaintiffs have the potential to recover more damages under tort law than contract law. However, most courts have adopted a doctrine known as the economic loss rule to bar plaintiffs from asserting certain tort theories to recover for their economic loss. Although the economic loss rule may seem like an easy way to maintain the boundary between tort law and contract law, confusion abounds when courts attempt to determine the …


The Emperor’S New Clothes: Fracking Legislation In Texas, Kirbie Watson Nov 2014

The Emperor’S New Clothes: Fracking Legislation In Texas, Kirbie Watson

LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources

No abstract provided.


Des And A Proposed Theory Of Enterprise Liability, Naomi Sheiner Oct 2014

Des And A Proposed Theory Of Enterprise Liability, Naomi Sheiner

Fordham Law Review

To commemorate our founding in 1914, the Board of Editors has selected six influential pieces published by the Law Review over the past 100 years and will republish one piece in each issue.
The first piece selected by the Board is DES and a Proposed Theory of Enterprise Liability. This Comment, written in 1978 by Fordham Law Review staff member Naomi Sheiner, helped to pioneer the concept of enterprise liability. It has been cited by nearly 250 scholarly articles and in more than 100 cases, including Sindell v. Abbott Laboratories, 607 P.2d 924 (Cal. 1980), the leading case …


Proximity-Driven Liability, Bryant Walker Smith Aug 2014

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 …


Warning: A Post-Sale Duty To Warn Targets Small Manufacturers, Jill Wieber Lens Aug 2014

Warning: A Post-Sale Duty To Warn Targets Small Manufacturers, Jill Wieber Lens

Utah Law Review

The majority of states now obligate manufacturers to warn about dangers of their products that are discoverable after the sale. Commentators and courts have been hesitant about this obligation because of the potential burden it puts on manufacturers — the costs of identifying users and warning them of the danger. The consensus is that only a factually dependent post-sale duty to warn should exist, obligating manufacturers to warn only if a reasonable manufacturer would do so. A reasonable manufacturer, of course, would warn only if the danger to be warned of justifies the costs of the warning.

This Article is …


The Role Of Litigation In The Fight Against Prescription Drug Abuse, Richard C. Ausness Apr 2014

The Role Of Litigation In The Fight Against Prescription Drug Abuse, Richard C. Ausness

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Role Of Litigation In The Fight Against Prescription Drug Abuse, Richard C. Ausness Apr 2014

The Role Of Litigation In The Fight Against Prescription Drug Abuse, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Prescription drug abuse problems have prompted a number of responses by both drug users (and abusers) and by various federal and state government agencies.

Part I of this Article examines the impressive array of liability theories that individual litigants have relied upon in their lawsuits against Purdue. These theories include: negligence; strict products liability, including design defect and inadequate warning claims; breach of the implied warranty of merchantability; violation of state consumer protection statutes; negligent marketing; fraudulent misrepresentation; civil conspiracy; and "malicious conduct." Purdue, the company that developed OxyContin, has pursued an aggressive "no settlement" policy and has chosen to …


Technology Drives The Law: A Foreword To Trends And Issues In Techology & The Law, Ralph D. Clifford Mar 2014

Technology Drives The Law: A Foreword To Trends And Issues In Techology & The Law, Ralph D. Clifford

University of Massachusetts Law Review

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.


Strict Products Liability At 50: Four Histories, Kyle Graham Jan 2014

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 …


Expanded Merchant Tort Liability, Democratic Degradation, And Mass Market Standard Form Contracts—A Two-Part Critique Of Boilerplate: The Fine Print, Vanishing Rights, And The Rule Of Law (Part Ii), Steven W. Feldman Jan 2014

Expanded Merchant Tort Liability, Democratic Degradation, And Mass Market Standard Form Contracts—A Two-Part Critique Of Boilerplate: The Fine Print, Vanishing Rights, And The Rule Of Law (Part Ii), Steven W. Feldman

Cleveland State Law Review

Analyzing a difficult subject that pervades contract law and which is vital to the national economy, many scholars have written about boilerplate contracts. With her 2013 book, Boilerplate: The Fine Print, Vanishing Rights and the Rule of Law, Professor Margaret Jane Radin weighs in on the discussion. In a complement to existing contract remedies against abusive boilerplate, she proposes a new tort that she calls “intentional deprivation of basic legal rights.” She also identifies another new tort theory that deems abusive boilerplate to be a defective “product” under the law of products liability.

Radin further contends that these merchant practices …


Strict Products Liability At 50: Four Histories, Kyle Graham Jan 2014

Strict Products Liability At 50: Four Histories, Kyle Graham

Marquette Law Review

This Article offers four different perspectives on the strict products- liability “revolution” of a half-century ago. One of these narratives relates the predominant assessment of how this movement coalesced and spread across the states. The three alternative histories introduced by this Article view 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 a formerly common, but now moribund, type of products-liability lawsuit framed the argument for strict liability as a superior …


Warning: A Post-Sale Duty To Warn Targets Small Manufacturers, Jill W. Lens Dec 2013

Warning: A Post-Sale Duty To Warn Targets Small Manufacturers, Jill W. Lens

Jill Wieber Lens

The majority of states now obligate manufacturers to warn about dangers of their products that are discoverable after the sale. Commentators and courts have been hesitant about this obligation because of the potential burden it puts on manufacturers — the costs of identifying users and warning them of the danger. The consensus is that only a factually dependent post-sale duty to warn should exist, obligating manufacturers to warn only if a reasonable manufacturer would do so. A reasonable manufacturer, of course, would warn only if the danger to be warned of justifies the costs of the warning. 

This Article is …


The Law And Economics Of Products Liability, Keith N. Hylton Jun 2013

The Law And Economics Of Products Liability, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

This paper presents a largely positive analysis of products liability law, in the sense that it aims to predict the incentive effects and the welfare consequences of the law, with close regard to its specific legal tests and the real-world constraints that impinge on these tests. The other major part of this paper is a normative assessment of the parts of products liability law that should be reformed. In contrast with the prevailing law and economics literature suggesting that products liability law reduces social welfare, I argue that the law probably improves social welfare, though it is in need of …


A Prescription Warning, Carlton Lee Harpst May 2013

A Prescription Warning, Carlton Lee Harpst

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Comparative Fault And Strict Products Liability: Are They Compatible?, C. R. Hickey May 2013

Comparative Fault And Strict Products Liability: Are They Compatible?, C. R. Hickey

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Supreme Court's Bright Line Ruling In Riegel V. Medtronic, Inc. Gives Manufacturers Of Defective Medical Devices Broad Immunity, Sadaf Bathaee Apr 2013

The Supreme Court's Bright Line Ruling In Riegel V. Medtronic, Inc. Gives Manufacturers Of Defective Medical Devices Broad Immunity, Sadaf Bathaee

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.


Another Citadel Has Fallen - This Time The Plaintiff's. California Applies Comparative Negligence To Strict Products Liability, Thomas G. Gehring Feb 2013

Another Citadel Has Fallen - This Time The Plaintiff's. California Applies Comparative Negligence To Strict Products Liability, Thomas G. Gehring

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Punitive Damages In Product Liability Cases , Mark P. Robinson Jr., Gerald H.B. Kane Jr. Feb 2013

Punitive Damages In Product Liability Cases , Mark P. Robinson Jr., Gerald H.B. Kane Jr.

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.