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Products liability

November 2002 | Volume 38, Issue 12

How to select and use aviation experts
Gary C. Robb

Your phone rings—it's the parent of someone who died in a plane crash. Do you know what to do? You will need help from a wide range of liability and causation experts. In aviation litigation, that can be a long list.

Representing the 'forgotten child'
Robert E. Ammons, Susan E. Lister, and Vuk Stevan Vujasinovic

Infants have car seats. Adults and older children have seat belts. But children ages four to eight are caught in the safety gap. As many as 500 children a year are killed, and thousands more injured, due to improper belt use. Automakers have designs that would correct the problem, but most have failed to implement them.

The road to a recall
Robert K. Jenner

For people with lung ailments, the arrival of the bronchoscope seemed like a blessing, promising an alternative to biopsy and relief to thousands. But when a manufacturer learned of a defect that transmitted a potentially lethal bacteria, it didn't move fast to fix it.

Ensuring safety after the sale
Gary D. McCallister

A manufacturer's responsibility to the consumer doesn't end at the cash register. A 40-year-old theory of liability holds that a manufacturer must protect buyers from dangers it discovers after placing its product on the market. But nearly half the states have not addressed it.

Features

Wound care and nursing home liability
Cheryl G. Rice

Statistics show that as many as 23 percent of nursing home residents suffer from pressure ulcers, commonly known as bedsores. Such wounds can be healed, and providers who fail to treat them properly may be acting negligently. Learn about new "alternative interventions" and the regulatory requirements governing wound care.

Trends in federalism and their implications for state courts
Georgene M. Vairo

The plaintiff is the master of the complaint, and his or her choice of forum should rarely be disturbed. Increasingly, however, Congress and the federal judiciary have supported a shift toward litigation of state-based causes of action in federal court, especially when claims are complex. Is this the "new federalism"?

Asleep at the wheel?
Jeffrey A. Burns

Many truck crashes are the result of driver fatigue, and lawsuits focus on whether the driver complied with regulations limiting work hours. The driver's logbook may be the key to successful litigation. Knowing how and why drivers commit fraud will help you hold the trucking industry accountable.

When bad houses make good cases
Gary W. Jackson and Fred W. DeVore III

Houses are being constructed at a furious pace. Builders often cut corners and em ploy unskilled subcontractors. Now, construction-defect litigation-once re strict ed mostly to commercial buildings and large apartment complexes-in creas ingly involves single-family homes. "Bad house" cases have become viable.

News & Trends

As arsenic leaches, pressure builds on treated-wood industry

South Carolina federal judges ban secret settlements; other jurisdictions may follow

Federal judges spar over whether ERISA allows punitive damages

States join fight against drug companies for keeping generics off the market

Tenth Circuit blocks attempt to narrow Rehabilitation Act in disability cases

Controversial study supports admissibility of handwriting

Departments

President's page
Smart searching

Washington focus
Asbestos revisited

The Robert L. Habush ATLA Endowment: donor profiles

Supreme Court review
Judicial elections and the First Amendment

Good counsel

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