Reforming Products Liability

W. Kip Viscusi is George G. Allen Professor of Economics at Duke University and Associate Reporter on the American Law Institute tort liability reform project.

• Preface 1. Diagnosing the Liability Crisis Perspectives on Liability Reform Recent Trends in Products Liability Proposals for Reform 2. The Dimensions of the Liability Crisis Accident Rates Decline, But Litigation Soars The Surge in Asbestos Litigation Insurance Industry Trends Roots of the Insurance Crisis, 1980-1984 Other Economic Effects of Products Liability The Design Defect Doctrine and Hazard Warnings 3. The Litigation Process The Overall Structure of Products Liability Litigation Court Verdicts Claims Settled Out of Court Cases That Are Dropped Using Economic Models to Assess Reform Proposals 4. The Design Defect Test A Case Study of Risk-Utility Tradeoffs Risk-Utility Analysis The Producer as Insurer Alternative Risk-Utility Measures On the Threshold of Marketability Who Decides? Proposals for Restructuring the Product Defect Test 5. The Explosive Mathematics of Damages The Insurance Value and the Deterrence Value of Damages Inflation and the Increase in Verdict Awards Noneconomic Damages Has Voodoo Economics Come to the Courts? Applying the Value of Life: The Ford Pinto Case Proposals for Setting Damages 6. Regulation of Product Safety The Adequacy of Incentives Regulatory Violations and Products Liability Litigation Restructuring the Institutional Interactions 7. Hazard Warnings The Objectives of Hazard Warnings Assessing the Quality of Warnings Warnings and the Risk-Utility Test Regulatory Compliance Toward a National Warnings Policy 8. Environmental and Mass Toxic Torts The Market Paradigm and Why It Fails Products Liability--an Inadequate Remedy Agent Orange and the Economic Stakes of Mass Toxic Torts Compensation Funds Strategies for Mass Toxic Torts 9. Workers' Compensation Lessons from the Workers' Compensation Experience Job-Related Products Liability Claims and Workers' Compensation 10. Will Products Liability Reform Matter? Insurance Availability Products Liability Definitions State-of-the-Art Defenses Statutes of Limitation Collateral Source Rules and Damage Rules Effects on Premiums Conclusion 11. A Strategy for Principled Products Liability Reform Appendix A: Products Liability Costs in Different Industries Appendix B: The Litigation of Job-Related Claims Notes Bibliography Index

Kip Viscusi presents a careful and compelling indictment of the modern system of product liability law, which skillfully weaves together economic theory, legal doctrine, and statistical and anecdotal evidence. The book should become a standard reference for readers in all relevant disciplines who are interested in the pros and cons of product liability reform.