The American Law Institute’s
Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Products Liability
Comprehensively covers this complex field
Completely superseding Section 402A of Restatement Second of Torts, published more than three decades ago, this landmark work
• Manufacturing defects
• Design defects
• Warning defects
and the legal standards appropriate to each.
Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Products Liability, which deals with the liability of commercial product sellers and distributors for harm caused by their products, is the first segment to be completed of the Institute’s long-term undertaking to revise and update the Restatement Second of Torts. Completely superseding Section 402A of Restatement Second, promulgated 34 years ago, this monumental new work comprehensively covers the complex field of products liability. The text responds to products liability issues that have become points of serious contention in the courts, but which 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 Section 402A, it concluded the time was ripe to revisit and reconsider the subject in light of subsequent developments. Now published in its official form, Restatement Third, Torts: Products Liability represents a thorough reformulation and expansion of Section 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, the new 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.
The Reporters for ALI’s new Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Products Liability were James A. Henderson, Jr., of Cornell Law School and Aaron D. Twerski of Brooklyn Law School. For their contributions to this Restatement, Professors Henderson and Twerski were jointly appointed to the Institute’s R. Ammi Cutter Reporter’s Chair, an honor reserved for Institute Reporters whose work is regarded as especially outstanding.
This authoritative Restatement, the product of several years of intense study and review by an eminent body of practitioners, judges, and scholars, will furnish 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 that 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."
Restatement Third, Torts:Products Liability 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.
1998, hardbound, xxxi, 382 pages, Order No. 6081, $95.00 plus $4.75 postage and handling -- Order this item
[ View Shopping Cart | Checkout | Empty Shopping Cart ]
CONTENTS
Foreword
Reporters’ Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1
LIABILITY OF COMMERCIAL PRODUCT SELLERS BASED ON_PRODUCT DEFECTS AT TIME OF SALE
Topic 1. Liability Rules Applicable to Products Generally
1. Liability of Commercial Seller or Distributor for Harm Caused by Defective Products
2. Categories of Product Defect
3. Circumstantial Evidence Supporting Inference of Product Defect
4. Noncompliance and Compliance with Product Safety Statutes or Regulations
Topic 2. Liability Rules Applicable to Special Products or Product Markets
5. Liability of Commercial Seller or Distributor of Product Components for Harm Caused by Products Into
Which Components Are Integrated
6. Liability of Commercial Seller or Distributor for Harm Caused by Defective Prescription Drugs and
Medical Devices
7. Liability of Commercial Seller or Distributor for Harm Caused by Defective Food Products
8. Liability of Commercial Seller or Distributor of Defective Used Products
Chapter 2
LIABILITY OF COMMERCIAL PRODUCT SELLERS NOT BASED ON PRODUCT DEFECTS AT TIME OF SALE
9. Liability of Commercial Product Seller or Distributor for Harm Caused by Misrepresentation
10. Liability of Commercial Product Seller or Distributor for Harm Caused by Post-Sale Failure to Warn
11. Liability of Commercial Product Seller or Distributor for Harm Caused by Post-Sale Failure to Recall Product
Chapter 3
LIABILITY OF SUCCESSORS AND APPARENT MANUFACTURERS
12. Liability of Successor for Harm Caused by Defective Products Sold Commercially by Predecessor
13. Liability of Successor for Harm Caused by Successor’s Own Post-Sale _Failure to Warn
14. Selling or Distributing as One’s Own a Product Manufactured by Another
Chapter 4
PROVISIONS OF GENERAL APPLICABILITY
Topic 1. Causation
15. General Rule Governing Causal Connection Between Product Defect and Harm
16. Increased Harm Due to Product Defect
Topic 2. Affirmative Defenses
17. Apportionment of Responsibility Between or Among Plaintiff, Sellers and Distributors of Defective Products,
and Others
18. Disclaimers, Limitations, Waivers, and Other Contractual Exculpations as Defenses to Products Liability
Claims for Harm to Persons
Topic 3. Definitions
19. Definition of "Product"
20. Definition of "One Who Sells or Otherwise Distributes"
21. Definition of "Harm to Persons or Property": Recovery for Economic Loss
Table of Cases
Table of Statutes
Table of Cross References to Digest System Key Numbers and ALR Annotations
Index
REPORTERS
*James A. Henderson, Jr., Cornell Law School, Ithaca, New York
*Aaron D. Twerski, Brooklyn Law School, Brooklyn, New York
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]
ex officio
Roswell B. Perkins, New York, New York
Chair of the Council, The American Law Institute
Charles Alan Wright, Austin, Texas
President, The American Law Institute
Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Director, The American Law Institute
________
*Professors Henderson and Twerski were jointly designated American Law Institute R. Ammi Cutter Reporters as of 1997.