Category Archives: Products liability
Piotr Machnikowski, ‘The Principles of European Tort Law and Product Liability’
ABSTRACT The authors of the Principles of European Tort Law (PETL) did not intend to regulate in detail the strict liability of a manufacturer for damage caused by a defect in its product. While creating general principles of liability for damage caused otherwise than by breach of an obligation, they had no need to refer […]
Guillem Izquierdo Grau, ‘Producer Liability for Substantial Modification of Products through Repair, Refurbishment and Remanufacturing’
ABSTRACT Within the framework of the European Union’s strategy on the transition to the circular economy paradigm, the reuse of products already on the market or put into service, through repair, refurbishment and remanufacturing, is being promoted in different regulatory spheres. Both processes were already timidly appearing in European legislation. However, the irruption of goods […]
Nynke Vellinga, ‘Rethinking compensation in light of the development of AI’
ABSTRACT The opacity, autonomy and complexity of AI systems can stand in the way of a fair and efficient allocation of risk and loss. The European Commission (EC) has recognized this and has addressed these matters in two proposals for two directives: the AI Liability Directive and a new Product Liability Directive. Both Directives address […]
Catherine Sharkey, ‘A Products Liability Framework for AI’
ABSTRACT A products liability framework, drawing inspiration from the regulation of FDA-approved medical products – which includes federal regulation as well as products liability – holds great promise for tackling many of the challenges artificial intelligence (AI) poses. Notwithstanding the new challenges that sophisticated AI technologies pose, products liability provides a conceptual framework capable of […]
Mark Geistfeld, ‘The Equity of Tort Claims for Medical Monitoring’
ABSTRACT A tort claim for medical monitoring commonly involves product defects that have exposed plaintiff-consumers to a significant risk of suffering bodily injury, such as cancer, at some point in the future. To protect themselves, these consumers must undergo periodic, costly medical testing. In pursuing a claim for medical monitoring, a plaintiff-consumer seeks tort recovery […]
Alberto Galasso and Hong Luo, ‘Product Liability Litigation and Innovation: Evidence from Medical Devices’
ABSTRACT We examine the relationship between product liability litigation and innovation by systematically combining data on product liability lawsuits with data on new product introductions in a panel dataset of leading medical device firms. We first document a decline in the propensity to introduce new products for both defendant firms and other firms operating in […]
Anita Bernstein, ‘Renewing Products Liability with Semen’
… I ground this exercise in my understanding of tort as (again, inter many alia) an application of force by the government. Though always more than a means to some larger end, tort is an instrument that law applies to the task of anticipating dangers and mitigating their consequences. The renewing that centers this Article […]
Cassandra Burke Robertson, ‘Litigating Partial Autonomy’
ABSTRACT Who is responsible when a semi-autonomous vehicle crashes? Automobile manufacturers claim that because Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) require constant human oversight even when autonomous features are active, the driver is always fully responsible when supervised autonomy fails. This Article argues that the automakers’ position is likely wrong both descriptively and normatively. On the […]
Gitta Veldt, ‘The New Product Liability Proposal – Fit for the Digital Age or in Need of Shaping Up?’
INTRODUCTION On the 28 of September 2022 the European Commission presented its long-awaited proposal for a new product liability directive. Starting point of this process was the evaluation of the directive in 2018, showing that the directive was not fully meeting its original goals and illustrating its unfitness in light of the digital age and […]
Gerald Spindler, ‘Different Approaches for Liability of Artificial Intelligence’
ABSTRACT The EU Commission has published two proposals of new directives, one on liability for defective products, the other on liability of AI systems. Whereas the proposal on the product liability directive seems to be revolutionary as software is treated as a product, the other proposal on AI liability refers mainly to improvements for claimants […]