Torts and Product Liability

An introduction to the principles of civil liability in the tort field: intentional wrongs, negligence, and strict liability. Attention is also given to the processes by which tort disputes are handled in our legal system.

The course offers a sustained analysis of tort law and remedies. The course will conduct in-depth examinations of certain key torts and torts’ doctrines and will then consider whether the doctrine meets the demands of justice and efficiency.  The course will both reconsider some of the basic materials from the 1L Torts course—such as the grounds and scope of trespass torts—and extend the analysis to capture torts and doctrines—such as dignitary and economic torts—that typically receive little or no attention in that basic course.  At a more general level, engaging in these micro-based analyses of the law of torts could illuminate the broader, macro-based questions such as what tort law is for, what to make of the distinction between contract and torts, and between private and public law.

Applications of products-liability doctrine and theory to a variety of problems drawn from or closely approximating actual litigation. An overview of the relevant case law, statutes, and administrative regulations, including the Restatement, Third, of Torts: Products Liability.