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Products Liability, Cases and Materials

6th Edition
David A. Fischer | William C. Powers, Jr. | W. Jonathan Cardi | Richard L. Cupp, Jr. | Michael D. Green | Joseph Sanders
ISBN: 9781647083809
Subject: Product Liability
Format: Print - Hardbound
Page Count: 1080
Copyright: 2023 | Status: In Stock
Other Formats Available

This edition of the casebook remains sufficiently flexible to meet widely varying needs. It is appropriate to use in a two- or a three-hour course. The structure of the book permits omission of entire chapters or portions of chapters without disrupting the flow of the course. The book is arranged so that the core of products liability law is presented in the first six chapters, but the materials may also be taught out of order. Topics include misrepresentation and warranty law, defects and reasonableness, cause-in-fact, proof, proximate cause and damages. The remaining chapters cover core topics in products liability litigation. After a brief introduction, Chapters 1 and 2 address the application of misrepresentation and warranty law to products cases. These theories remain viable in most jurisdictions and in a few jurisdictions that never adopted the Restatement (Second) of Torts Section 402A, they remain at the core of modern products liability law. Chapters 3 and 4 address the development of modern products liability law and its defining characteristic: its focus on the concept of “defect” rather than the concept of reasonableness. Chapter 4 systematically presents materials on manufacturing, design and warning defects organized around Section 2 of the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability. Chapter 5 addresses cause-in-fact, especially the choice between the Second and Third restatements’ approaches to cause-in-fact. Here as elsewhere the book does not attempt to reprise the coverage of causation in the first-year tort course, but rather focuses on the special cause-in-fact issues that typically emerge in product liability cases. Likewise, Chapters 6, 7 and 9 focus on the proof, proximate cause, and damages questions that most frequently arise in the products liability arena. The remaining chapters in the book cover the remaining core topics in products liability litigation: a) the effect of statutes and regulations b) apportionment of liability between plaintiff and defendant and among defendants in multi-party litigation c) the effect of statutes of limitations and repose d) parties and transactions that are covered and are not covered by products liability law e) complex litigation, including multidistrict litigation, class actions, and other forms of aggregate claim resolution.


Imprint: West Academic Publishing
Series: American Casebook Series
Publication Date: 12/15/2022

David A. Fischer, Missouri - Columbia

William C. Powers, Jr., Texas

W. Jonathan Cardi, Wake Forest University School of Law

Richard L. Cupp, Jr., Pepperdine University School of Law

Michael D. Green, Washington University School of Law

Joseph Sanders, University of Houston Law Center

CasebookPlus™

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  • Section B of Chapter 3 updates the material on the policy underpinnings of products liability with a new excerpt.
  • Chapter 4 adds new cases on risk-utility and the learned intermediary rule, and updated notes on the perception of risk.
  • Chapter 5 includes a new case that specifically addresses the use of but-for and substantial factor approaches to cause-in-fact. It also includes a new case in which the court applies the market-share liability theory to a non-DES situation.
  • Chapter 6 adds a new case on industry practice and custom. It also updates the note on types of scientific evidence, especially the increasing role of including genetic information.
  • Chapter 7 includes a new case on intervening and superseding causes.
  • Chapter 8 updates the ever-evolving area of federal preemption with a discussion of recent cases. This edition includes a new case specifically dealing with implied preemption, something that was missing from the fifth edition.
  • Chapter 10 contains a new case on how worker’s compensation statutes affect how courts deal with employers whose negligence has contributed to a plaintiff’s injuries.
  • Chapter 12 has been completely rewritten with numerous new cases dealing with innocent retailers, and providers of electricity, used products, and services. Especially worth noting, the chapter also includes a new case on the liability of facilitators such as Amazon.
  • Chapter 13 has an expanded discussion of the increasing role of multidistrict litigation in the settlement of mass torts. It also includes a new case on mandatory class actions.
  • Throughout the entire book, notes have been updated to include cases decided since the publication of the Fifth Edition.

Learn more about this series.