Products Liability
Overview
Products liability describes the tort liability faced by a manufacturer or seller of a product that injures a buyer or user of the product. Liability can occur at any point along the chain of production and distribution, meaning the manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer can all be held accountable for injury caused by a product. Even intangible products, such as gas, real estate, pets, charts and graphs can be subjects of a products liability case. Products liability can even occur where the product was misused, provided the misuse was foreseeable.
The injury-causing defect of a product can occur before (design defect), during (manufacturing defect) or after the manufacturing process (marketing defect). A design defect is a flaw in the product's design which makes the product inherently dangerous. A manufacturing defect occurs where a problem with the manufacturing process causes the product to be defective. Finally, a marketing defect can occur if the product lacks appropriate instructions or warnings.
Featured Cases
FELLNER v. TRI-UNION SEAFOODS, L.L.C.
2:2006cv00688
Filed in New Jersey District Court
Type of Suit: Personal Injury- Product Liability
Plaintiff: DEBORAH FELLNER; Defendant: TRI-UNION SEAFOODS, L.L.C.
Judge: Dennis M. Cavanaugh
Cause Of Action: DiversityIn Re: Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether ("MTBE") Products Liability Litigation
1:2000cv01898
Filed in New York Southern District Court
Type of Suit: Property Damage Product Liability
Cause Of Action: R&R re motions to remand (non-core)PFM Air, Inc. et al v. Dr.Ing.hc.F.Porsche A.G. et al
8:2008cv00392
Filed in Florida Middle District Court
Type of Suit: Airplane Product Liability
Plaintiff: PFM Air, Inc., Goedicke Inc of America, Peter Collinson Family, LP, AB Consulting, Inc., Pacific Aeromarine, Inc. and others...; Defendant: Dr.Ing.hc.F.Porsche A.G., Porsche Cars North America, Inc., Porsche Aviation Products, Inc., Gary Butcher
Judge: Elizabeth A. Kovachevich
Cause Of Action: DiversityAlmer v. Peanut Corporation of America
0:2009cv00268
Filed in Minnesota District Court
Type of Suit: Personal Injury- Product Liability
Plaintiff: Jeffrey Almer Defendant: Peanut Corporation of America, Peanut Corporation of America, Peanut Corporation of America, King Nut Companites, King Nut Companites
Cause Of Action: Injury, Product LiabilityDepositors Insurance Company v. Hamilton Beach/Proctor-Silex, Inc.
3:2008cv00125
Filed in Illinois Southern District Court
Type of Suit: Property Damage Product Liability
Plaintiff: Depositors Insurance Company; Defendant: Hamilton Beach/Proctor-Silex, Inc.
Judge: William D. Stiehl
Cause Of Action: Diversity-Product Liability
Legislation
Bill Introduced: H.R.3862 Sunshine for Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act of 2012
To impose certain limitations on consent decrees and settlement agreements by agencies that require the agencies to take regulatory action in accordance with the terms thereof, and for other purposes.Bill Introduced: S.2042 A bill to reinstate the reporting provision relating to fees and ...
A bill to reinstate the reporting provision relating to fees and expenses awarded to prevailing parties in civil actions involving the United States.Bill Introduced: H.R.3806 One Subject at a Time Act
To end the practice of including more than one subject in a single bill by requiring that each bill enacted by Congress be limited to only one subject, and for other purposes.Bill Introduced: H.R.3713 Equitable Treatment for the Living Victims of Lockerbie Act
To direct the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission to receive and determine the validity and amount of claims for loss of wages and other property of those plaintiffs in the case Bruce D. Abbott et al. v. Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.Bill Introduced: H.R.3725 Libyan Assets Taxpayer Reimbursement Act of 2011
To authorize the President to vest certain property of the Government of Libya seized or blocked by the United States and to authorize the use of that property to defray the full costs of Operation Odyssey Dawn and United States participation in NATO Operation Unified Protector, and for other purposes.
Regulations
Rule - Classes of Poultry
Food Safety and Inspection Service
Rule
Classes of Poultry
,
68058-68064 [2011-28525]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Food Safety and Inspection Service 9 CFR Part 381 [Docket No. FSIS-2007-0048] RIN 0583-AC83 Classes of Poultry AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is amending the definitions and standards for the official U.S. classes of poultry so that they more accurately and clearly describe the characteristics of poultry in the market today. Poultry classes are defined primarily in terms of... [read document]
View Document | Download PDFRule - Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and ...
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Rule
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles:
Correcting Amendments
,
65971 [2011-27502]
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 49 CFR Parts 523 and 535 [NHTSA 2010-0079; EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0162; FRL-9455-1] RIN 2127-AK74 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation (DOT). ACTION: Correcting amendments. SUMMARY: This document contains corrections to the final rule regulations (49 CFR parts... [read document]
View Document | Download PDFRule - Final Theft Data; Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Standard
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Rule
Final Theft Data; Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Standard
,
65610-65615 [2011-27370]
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 49 CFR Part 541 [Docket No. NHTSA-2011-0075] Final Theft Data; Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Standard AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation. ACTION: Publication of 2009 final theft data. SUMMARY: This document publishes the final data on thefts of model year (MY) 2009 passenger motor vehicles that occurred in calendar year (CY) 2009. The final 2009 theft data... [read document]
View Document | Download PDFProposed Rule - Petition for Approval of Alternate Odometer Disclosure Requirements
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Proposed Rule
Petition for Approval of Alternate Odometer Disclosure Requirements
,
65485-65492 [2011-27089]
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 49 CFR Part 580 [Docket No. NHTSA-2011-0152; Notice 1] Petition for Approval of Alternate Odometer Disclosure Requirements AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT. ACTION: Notice of initial determination. SUMMARY: The State of New York has petitioned for approval of alternate odometer requirements to certain requirements under Federal odometer law. New York's proposed program would apply to... [read document]
View Document | Download PDFProposed Rule - Review of Commission's Regulations
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Proposed Rule
Review of Commission's Regulations
,
64865-64868 [2011-26820]
CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION [Docket No. CPSC-2011-0078] 16 CFR Chapter II Review of Commission's Regulations; Request for Comments and Information AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission. ACTION: Request for comments and information. SUMMARY: Consumer Product Safety Commission (``CPSC'' or ``we'') staff is considering the appropriate process and substance of a plan to review existing CPSC regulations. CPSC has conducted reviews of rules in the past and intends to build on that... [read document]
View Document | Download PDF
Articles
Negligence, Hand Formula, and Compensation
Eugenio Battesini affiliation not provided to SSRN Date Posted: January 22, 2012 Working Paper Series 13 downloads Personal Jurisdiction and Product Liability USC Law and Economics Research Papers Series No. C12-2, USC Legal Studies Research Papers Series No. 12-4 Daniel Klerman University of Southern California Law School Date Posted: January 20, 2012 Last Revised: February 17, 2012Financiers as Monitors: Unbundling Agency, Risk, and Reward in Aggregate Litigation
UGA Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1968961 Elizabeth Chamblee Burch University of Georgia Law School Date Posted: December 07, 2011 Last Revised: January 30, 2012Duo Cum Faciunt Idem, Non Est Idem - Evidence from Austrian Pain and Suffering Verdicts
Magdalena Flatscher-Thöni , Andrea M. Leiter and Hannes Winner UMIT, Department of Public Health and Health Technology Assessment , Faculty of Economics and Statistics, University of Innsbruck and University of Salzburg - Department of Social and Economic Science Date Posted: January 13, 2012 Working Paper Series 1 downloads Empirical Analysis of Tort Damages RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON THE ECONOMICS OF TORTS, Jennifer Arlen, ed., Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012, Vanderbilt Law and Economics Research Paper No. 12-01 W. Kip Viscusi Vanderbilt Law School Date Posted: January 13, 2012 Accepted Paper Series 59 downloads Innovation, Tort Law, and Competition Klaus Heine and Florian Baumann Rotterdam Institute of Law and Economics and University of Tuebingen - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Date Posted: January 10, 2012 Working Paper Series 24 downloads Choice of Law in the American Courts in 2011: Twenty-Fifth Annual Survey American Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 60, 2012 Symeon C. Symeonides Willamette University - College of Law Date Posted: January 06, 2012 Last Revised: January 29, 2012An American Perspective on the New Japanese Act on General Rules for Application of Laws
Japanese Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 59, pp. 298-313, 2009, U. of Pittsburgh Legal Studies Research Paper Ronald A. Brand and Tabitha S. Fish University of Pittsburgh - School of Law and Saxon, Gilmore, Carraway & Gibbons, P.A. Date Posted: February 16, 2012 Accepted Paper Series 3 downloads Time is Money? A Law and Economics Approach to âLoss of Timeâ as Non-Pecuniary Loss RILE Working Paper No. 2012/01 Louis T. Visscher Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus School of Law Date Posted: February 16, 2012 Working Paper Series 3 downloads The 70th Annual Conference of the University of Latvia in the Legal Science: A Plenary Session on the Legal Environment of Innovations: A Conference Report Vadim Mantrov University of Latvia Date Posted: February 11, 2012 Working Paper Series 1 downloads Proof of Classwide Injury Brooklyn Journal of International Law, Vol. 37, No. 3, 2012, University of Miami Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2012-03 Sergio J. Campos University of Miami - School of Law Date Posted: February 07, 2012 Accepted Paper Series 20 downloads Auditors and the Post-2002 Litigation Environment Research in Accounting Regulations, Forthcoming Ross D. Fuerman Suffolk University - Department of Accounting Date Posted: February 06, 2012 Accepted Paper Series 22 downloads D & O Insurance: A Primer American University Business Law Review, Vol. 1, 2012 Lawrence J. Trautman and Kara Altenbaumer-Price affiliation not provided to SSRN and affiliation not provided to SSRN Date Posted: February 06, 2012 Accepted Paper Series 124 downloads PRC Tort Liability Law 2009: Implications for Enterprises Operating in China Kristie Thomas Nottingham University Business School Date Posted: February 06, 2012 Working Paper Series 4 downloads New Private Law Theory and Tort Law: A Comment Harvard Law Review Forum, 2012, Boston Univ. School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 12-04 Keith N. Hylton Boston University Date Posted: February 01, 2012 Accepted Paper Series 43 downloads 'I'm Not Gay - Not that There's Anything Wrong with That!': Are Unwanted Imputations of Gayness Defamatory? Victoria University of Wellington Law Review, Vol. 37, p. 249, 2006, Victoria University of Wellington Legal Research Paper Dean R. Knight Victoria University of Wellington - Faculty of Law Date Posted: January 31, 2012 Accepted Paper Series 2 downloads A Medical Liability Toolkit, Including ADR Journal of Legal Metrics, Forthcoming , George Mason Law & Economics Research Paper No. 12-09 Michael I. Krauss George Mason University School of Law Date Posted: January 31, 2012 Accepted Paper Series 31 downloads Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Patents: One Experimental View of the Cathedral Yale Journal of Law & Technology, Vo. 14, p. 138, 2011 Andrew W. Torrance and Bill Tomlinson University of Kansas - School of Law and University of California, Irvine Date Posted: January 29, 2012 Accepted Paper Series 69 downloads The Evolving Legal Regime for Autonomous Vehicles Sam Wardle affiliation not provided to SSRN Date Posted: January 27, 2012 Working Paper Series Challenges to the Patent System Giuseppina (Pina) D'Agostino Osgoode Hall Law School - York University Date Posted: January 25, 2012 Working Paper Series 6 downloads The Effect of Bankruptcy Exemptions on Medical Malpractice Insurance Limits Tom Baker , Eric Helland and Jonathan Klick University of Pennsylvania Law School , Claremont McKenna College - Robert Day School of Economics and Finance and University of Pennsylvania Law School Date Posted: January 24, 2012 Working Paper Series 15 downloads Tort Liabilities and Torts Law: The New Frontier of Chinese Legal Horizon Richmond Journal of Global Law and Business, Vol. 10, No. 4, 2011, Temple University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2011-23 Mo Zhang Temple University - James E. Beasley School of Law Date Posted: January 24, 2012 Accepted Paper Series 68 downloads Economic Analysis of Punitive Damages: Theory, Empirics, and Doctrine RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON THE ECONOMICS OF TORT, Jennifer Arlen, ed., Kluwer, Forthcoming, NYU Law and Economics Research Paper No. 12-02 Catherine M. Sharkey New York University (NYU) - School of Law Date Posted: January 23, 2012 Last Revised: January 27, 2012How to Share Sequential Liability: A Cooperative Game Theoretical Approach
Samuel Ferey and Pierre Dehez affiliation not provided to SSRN and University of Louvain Date Posted: January 23, 2012 Working Paper Series 2 downloads Optimal Attorney Advertising Michael P. Stone and Thomas J. Miceli Quinnipiac University - Department of Economics and University of Connecticut - Department of Economics Date Posted: January 23, 2012 Working Paper Series 1 downloads The Vicissitudes of Tort: A Response to Professors Rabin, Sebok & Zipursky DePaul Law Review, Vol. 60, 2011, NYU Law and Economics Research Paper No. 12-01 Catherine M. Sharkey New York University (NYU) - School of Law Date Posted: January 23, 2012 Last Revised: January 27, 2012
