Category Archives: Products liability
Devenney and Howells, ‘Developing product liability networks for AI systems in the medical context’
ABSTRACT Product liability is again a matter of contemporary discussion due to the increased integration of technology into products. In particular, artificial intelligence (AI) has come to the fore, with machines, for example, using big data to make decisions faster and often with greater accuracy than humans. AI is being used at all stages of […]
Howells and Fairgrieve, ‘The New Product Liability Directive: Steadily Expanding Liability or Business as Usual?’
ABSTRACT This article analyses the recently adopted Product Liability Directive, exploring the background and reasons for the new instrument and the changes ushered in by the new rules. These modifications impact on key aspects of the liability regime including the expanded concept of a product, the notion of defect, recoverable harm, burden of proof and […]
Douglas Kysar, ‘Products Liability and Climate Change’
ABSTRACT Human alteration of the Earth’s climate is inexorably connected to industrial production. Contemporary systems of energy, construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and many other aspects of production depend, at their foundation, on the generation of greenhouse gases. This Chapter explores whether the consumer products associated with those processes-in particular, goods such as fuel, electricity, and meat-might […]
Kenneth Jacobsen, ‘Navigating [The] Amazon: Liability of E-Commerce Companies for Defective Products Sold Through Their Internet Websites’
ABSTRACT There has been an explosion in e-commerce consumer sales transactions over the past few years – a trend that increased significantly during the pandemic. But what happens when one of those products is defective and causes injuries to the purchaser? The vendors of products sold through these internet transactions are often foreign entities beyond […]
Opioid Litigation – special number of Touro Law Review
Foreword: The Opioid Litigation Conference (Rodger D Citron) Symposium Transcript, In re Opioid Litigation: The Pretrial Phase (Rodger D Citron) Symposium Transcript, In re Opioid Litigation: The Trial Phase (Rodger D Citron) Litigation, Reform, and the Opioid Crisis: From MDL to Bankruptcy (Abbe R Gluck) Opioid Settlements and Profitable Public Nuisances (Clayton J Masterman) Mitigating […]
Mateusz Grochowski, ‘Algorithmic Speech Harm’
ABSTRACT This paper examines the potential application of product liability doctrine to content moderation and recommendation algorithms employed by social media platforms. Emerging scholarship and evolving case law suggest that product liability could provide a viable legal pathway to circumvent the limitations imposed by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The article critically evaluates […]
Aaron Twerski, ‘A Quarter Century After the Products Liability Restatement: Reflections’
ABSTRACT A quarter century has passed since the adoption by the American Law Institute of the Products Liability Restatement. It is time to reflect on whether it has influenced the courts. At the time of its adoption there was considerable controversy with regard to several sections. Some sections were not controversial. There was little disagreement […]
Timothy Lytton, ‘Using Nuisance Law to Advance Food Safety’
ABSTRACT This Essay proposes a novel approach to the most urgent food safety problem currently facing US consumers: fresh produce contaminated with virulent microbial pathogens. Despite extensive regulation, growers have been unable to rid their fields of toxic bacteria, and processors have been unsuccessful in sanitizing tainted produce before it reaches store shelves. As a […]
‘The New Product Liability Directive: Open Questions on the Eve of Implementation’: Institute for European Tort Law, Vienna, 12 June 2025
On 23 October 2024, the European Union passed a new Product Liability Directive (PLD) and repealed the initial version from 1985. The new text has brought considerable improvements, but many fundamental questions are still left open on the eve of the Directive’s implementation, which the Member States must complete by 9 December 2026 … (more)
Maarten Herbosch, ‘Liability for AI Agents’
ABSTRACT Artificial intelligence (‘AI’) is becoming integral to modern life, fueling innovation while presenting complex legal challenges. Unlike traditional software, AI operates with a degree of autonomy, producing outcomes that its developers or deployers cannot fully anticipate. Advances in underlying technology have further enhanced this autonomy, giving rise to AI agents: systems capable of interacting […]