Category Archives: Products liability
Jean-Sébastien Borghetti, ‘Taking EU Product Liability Law Seriously: How Can the Product Liability Directive Effectively Contribute to Consumer Protection?’
ABSTRACT The 1985 Product Liability Directive (PLD) is currently being revised, with a view to adapting European Union product liability rules to the digital economy and new technologies. The ongoing discussion focuses on technical issues and apparently takes it for granted that the PLD as it stands adequately achieves the policy goals that were initially […]
Saloni Khanderia, ‘Driverless cars and the determination of the manufacturer’s liability for injuries: is India ready?’
ABSTRACT India’s endeavour of becoming a leader in shared mobility indicates that it could soon follow suit in becoming one of the leading driverless car markets across the globe. The paper critically analyses the state of India’s current liability laws on automobile-related injuries in a comparative context. It examines whether their extension to technology-based automobiles […]
Sørensen, Rott and Sein, ‘Response of the European Law Institute: European’s Public Consultation on Digital Fairness – Fitness Check of Consumer Law’
ABSTRACT In its 2020 consumer policy strategy, the ‘New Consumer Agenda’, the European Commission announced that it would analyse whether additional legislation or other action is needed in the medium term to ensure equal fairness online and offline. For that reason, the Commission launched, in spring 2022, a Fitness Check of EU consumer law on […]
Marin Scordato, ‘The Curious Case of Tort Liability for a Defective Product That the Defendant Did Not Make, Sell, or Distribute’
ABSTRACT Rarely does the United States Supreme Court consider and decide an issue of tort law, especially one that does not implicate any aspect of federal constitutional law. The problem of bare-metal equipment is just such an issue, taken up and addressed by the US Supreme Court less than three years ago in the case […]
Hilyard Nichols, ‘The First Byte Rule: A Proposal for Liability of Artificial Intelligences’
ABSTRACT Artificial Intelligences (AIs) are a relatively new addition to human civilization. From delivery robots to board game champions, researchers and businesses have found a variety of ways to apply this new technology. As it continues to grow and become more prevalent though, so do its interactions with society at large. This will create benefits […]
Koopman and Widen, ‘Liability Rules for Automated Vehicles: Definitions and Details’
ABSTRACT This paper explains how the law ought to attribute and allocate liability for accidents involving automated vehicles. We advocate for the creation of the legal fiction of a ‘Computer Driver’ and allow a court or jury to attribute ordinary negligence liability to the Computer Driver anytime a court or jury determines that the Computer […]
Alexandra Lahav, ‘Crime and Tort: Reflections on Legal Categories’
ABSTRACT This Essay investigates how a particular category of torts – suits for injuries caused by dangerous products – has been seen alternatively as based in contact or criminal law – in addition to, or sometimes instead of, an independent doctrine sounding in tort that arises from a duty not to harm others. This category […]
Benjamin Cavataro, ‘Regulating Guns as Products’
ABSTRACT Toy guns are subject to federal product safety regulation. Real guns are not. If a defect in an air rifle causes it to discharge without warning, the manufacturer would be required to promptly notify a safety regulator (the Consumer Product Safety Commission); to recall the air rifle; and to provide a repair, replacement, or […]
Hua and Spier, ‘Platform Safety: Strict Liability versus Negligence’
ABSTRACT This paper explores whether platform liability should be strict or negligence based. In the model, two-sided platforms get revenue from two sources: selling products or services to consumers and selling advertising (or information) to others. There are indirect network effects: higher consumer participation generates more revenue from advertising or data sales. Platforms may take […]
Catherine Sharkey, ‘The Irresistible Simplicity of Preventing Harm’
ABSTRACT In Loomis v Amazon.com, the California Court of Appeal confronts the most pressing products liability issue of our time: the extent to which an online marketplace is liable for injuries caused by defective products sold on its platform. In a trailblazing concurrence destined to enter the torts canon, Justice John Wiley highlights Amazon’s ability […]