The Expanding Liability of the Product Supplier: A Primer

Through the use of the question and answer format in this article, I hope to cover the main areas where product liability is expanding, both as to the imposition of liability and the admissibility of proof. This format is suggested by the type of questions which have been put to me when I have lectured on the subject. I practice as plaintiff's counsel, and my answers are inevitably shaped in that light. Indeed, it is the plaintiff, through product litigation, that is causing the expansion in this area of the law.

The thirty topics which are covered are divided into the following parts: strict liability, negligence, other forms of liability and parties, and proof. A good deal of space is devoted to the proof topics, since much of the expansion of the law in recent years has been little more than an expansion of the type of proof which courts will accept. In turn, that expansion of proof has given juries more leeway in determining the outcome, guided by only the broadest definitions of liability