Sense or Sensibility?: Toxic Product Liability under State Law after Cipollone and Medtronic

Widener Law Symposium Journal, Vol. 2, 1997

67 Pages Posted: 20 Oct 2011

See all articles by Jean M. Eggen

Jean M. Eggen

Widener University - Delaware Law School

Date Written: 1997

Abstract

The common law may impose standards of conduct on product manufacturers that vary from standards imposed by federal statutes or regulations. Where the statute contains an express preemption provision, state common-law actions may be barred, depending upon the language in the provision and the intent of Congress. This process is fraught with policy interests, however, which tend to obscure the analytical process of statutory interpretation. This article compares and contrasts the U.S. Supreme Court’s analysis of express preemption in two product cases – the Court’s 1992 decision in Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc. and its 1996 decision in Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr. Cipollone was a compromise decision in which the Court held that some, but not all of the cigarette product liability claims were preempted by the express preemption provision in the cigarette labeling act. Medtronic, which involved the Medical Device Amendments to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, resulted in a decision that none of the asserted product claims was preempted. This article examines the process of analysis used by the Supreme Court in these cases and illuminates the implicit lessons of these two cases for preemption jurisprudence. The article also predicts the impact that Cipollone and Lohr may have on other cases involving allegedly toxic products.

Keywords: product liability, toxic torts, preemption

JEL Classification: K13

Suggested Citation

Macchiaroli Eggen, Jean, Sense or Sensibility?: Toxic Product Liability under State Law after Cipollone and Medtronic (1997). Widener Law Symposium Journal, Vol. 2, 1997, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1945962

Jean Macchiaroli Eggen (Contact Author)

Widener University - Delaware Law School ( email )

4601 Concord Pike
Wilmington, DE 19803-0406
United States
(302) 477-2155 (Phone)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
30
Abstract Views
526
PlumX Metrics