Paradigm Shifts in Products Liability and Negligence

Abstract

Three interrelated paradigm shifts are currently at play within products liability law. The first results from the tort reform movement’s heated efforts at dramatically restricting compensatory rights and options. The second arises from the countervailing effort to preserve products accountability by relinquishing no-fault strict-liability theories. The article’s resulting treatment of negligence introduces the third paradigm shift, by which the elements of accident law are restated more accurately. This shift from the traditional negligence formula will hone the reader’s ability to analyze tort law agendas, and the new analysis is here applied in critiquing three major initiatives in the tort reform scholarship.

Keywords: products liability, negligence, tort law, tort reform