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This Restatement, which deals with the liability of commercial product sellers and distributors for harm caused by their products, was the first segment to be completed of the Institute's long-term undertaking to revise and update the Restatement Second of Torts. Completely superseding § 402A of Restatement Second, promulgated in the mid 1960s, this monumental work comprehensively covers the complex field of products liability. The text responds to issues that have become points of serious contention in the courts but were not part of the products liability landscape when the earlier provision was adopted in 1964.

Three decades after the Institute revolutionized products liability law with its formulation of § 402A, it concluded the time was ripe to revisit and reconsider the subject in light of subsequent developments. This Restatement represents a thorough reformulation and expansion of § 402A and related sections of Restatement Second, which will enable practitioners in the field to analyze the issues confronting them with greater sophistication than afforded by the previous Restatement. Especially notable are the careful separation of product defect into distinct categories and the development of separate rules for special products and product markets. Also covered in detail is liability of product sellers not based upon defects at the time of sale, including liability for post-sale failure to warn, and successor liability.

Responding to the need to provide both reasonable protection for the interests of consumers and workers and practicable standards of conduct for those who produce goods, this Restatement articulates clearer answers to the question of whether a product is defective by formulating three distinct categories of product defect and the legal standards appropriate to each:

· Manufacturing Defects - when the product departs from its intended design, even if all possible care was exercised.

· Design Defects - when the foreseeable risks of harm posed by the product could have been reduced or avoided by the adoption of a reasonable alternative design, and failure to use the alternative design renders the product not reasonably safe.

· Inadequate Instructions or Warnings Defects - when the foreseeable risks of harm posed by the product could have been reduced or avoided by reasonable instructions or warnings, and their omission renders the product not reasonably safe.

The work also develops special rules for component parts, prescription drugs and medical devices, food, and used products.

This authoritative Restatement, the product of several years of intense study and review by an eminent body of practitioners, judges, and scholars, furnishes extensive guidance to all who practice in the increasingly controversial area of products liability law. It is divided into four Chapters:

Chapter 1 sets forth the rules that govern the liability of commercial product sellers based on product defects at the time of sale. The Chapter is divided into two Topics. Topic 1 covers liability rules applicable to products generally, while Topic 2 encompasses the liability rules applicable to special products or product markets (component parts, drugs, food products, and used products).

Chapter 2 covers the liability of commercial product sellers or distributors for harm not based on product defects at the time of sale. It treats harm caused by misrepresentation, post-sale failure to warn, and post-sale failure to recall products.

Chapter 3 deals with the liability of a successor to the business of a product seller, as well as the liability of an apparent manufacturer. It covers liability for harm caused by defective products sold commercially by a predecessor, for a successor's own post-sale failure to warn, and for selling or distributing as one's own a product manufactured by another.

Chapter 4 is divided into three Topics and sets forth provisions of general applicability. Topic 1, Causation, presents the general rule governing causal connections between product defect and harm, including increased harm resulting from the defect. Topic 2, Affirmative Defenses, deals with apportionment of responsibility between or among plaintiff, sellers and distributors of defective products, and others, as well as with disclaimers, limitations, waivers, and other contractual exculpations as defenses to products liability claims for harm to persons. Topic 3, Definitions, clarifies the scope and meaning of the terms "product," "one who sells or otherwise distributes," and "harm to persons or property."

This Restatement treats a complicated and controversial subject in lucid terms, combining clear black-letter provisions with extensive explanatory Comments, clarifying Illustrations, and detailed Reporters' Notes. The Comments thoroughly explicate the background, rationale, and applicability of the black-letter provisions, while the Reporters' Notes document and discuss the sources for the black letter and Comments and provide a convenient basis for further research. The work is further enhanced by tables of cases, statutes, and cross-references to the West Digest System and ALR annotations, and by an Index. The volume is updated annually by a cumulative pocket part.

Reporters: James A. Henderson, Jr.*, Cornell Law School, Ithaca, New York; Aaron D. Twerski*, Brooklyn Law School, Brooklyn, New York.

*Professors Henderson and Twerski were jointly designated American Law Institute R. Ammi Cutter Reporters as of 1997.

Advisers: Kenneth S. Abraham, University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, Virginia; Sheila L. Birnbaum, New York, New York; Roger C. Cramton, Cornell Law School, Ithaca, New York; Oscar S. Gray, University of Maryland School of Law, Baltimore, Maryland; Michael D. Green, University of Iowa College of Law, Iowa City, Iowa; Robert L. Habush, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Robert E. Keeton, United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts; Carolyn Dineen King, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Houston, Texas; Hans A. Linde, Salem, Oregon, Senior Judge, Oregon Supreme Court; John W. Martin, Jr., Dearborn, Michigan; Vincent L. McKusick, Portland, Maine, Retired Chief Justice, Supreme Judicial Court of Maine; Robert L. Rabin, Stanford Law School, Stanford, California; Paul D. Rheingold, New York, New York; Gary T. Schwartz, University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, Los Angeles, California; Victor E. Schwartz, Washington, District of Columbia; Marshall S. Shapo, Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago, Illinois; Michael Traynor, San Francisco, California; Bill Wagner, Tampa, Florida; Paul C. Weiler, Harvard University Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Editorial Adviser: David G. Owen, University of South Carolina School of Law, Columbia, South Carolina [from 1996].

Tentative and Other Annual Meeting Drafts

Tentative Draft No. 1: Chapter 1. Liability for the Sale of Defective Products: Topic 1. Product Defectiveness; Topic 2. Causation; Topic 3. Affirmative Defenses xxii, 157 pp., 1994, Order Code 5470, $30 -- Order this item

Tentative Draft No. 2: Chapter 1. Liability for the Sale or Distribution of Defective Products xxix, 315 pp., 1995, Order Code 5529, $45 -- Order this item

Tentative Draft No. 3: Chapter 1. Liability for the Sale or Distribution of Defective Products (§§ 9-11, 13, 14); Chapter 2. Successors; Apparent Manufacturers; Chapter 3. Liability Not Based Upon Product Defect at Time of Sale xxvii, 117 pp., 1996, Order Code 5551, $20 -- Order this item

Proposed Final Draft: Chapter 1. Liability of Commercial Product Sellers Based on Product Defects at Time of Sale; Chapter 2. Liability of Commercial Product Sellers Not Based on Product Defects at Time of Sale; Chapter 3. Liability of Successors and Apparent Manufacturers; Chapter 4. Provisions of General Applicability xxxii, 386 pp., 1997, Order Code 6064, $50 -- Order this item

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See also Enterprise Responsibility for Personal Injury under CODIFICATIONS AND STUDIES.