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50 Neb. L. Rev. 415 (1970-1971)
Insurance Protection for Products Liability and Completed Operations - What Every Lawyer Should Know

handle is hein.journals/nebklr50 and id is 431 raw text is: INSURANCE PROTECTION FOR PRODUCTS LIABILITY AND COMPLETED OPERATIONS - WHAT EVERY LAWYER SHOULD KNOW Roger C. Henderson* There have been many recent changes in the field of tort law,' but none as personal and important to each member of our so- ciety as the changes in tort liability theories for injuries associated with products and related services. It is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive of an individual in America today who is not exposed to some serious risk of injury from such a source, and, of course, the source is likewise exposed to a correlative liability. It is this latter exposure and the means of protecting against it that is the subject of this article. Although trial lawyers and judges are the natural objects of an article dealing with anything so fraught with litigation, it is hoped that the office practitioner will also find this of value in the way of preventive law practice. Certainly not every manufacturer that is sued on a products liability theory is a giant automobile manufacturer or chemical company in a distant location. There are many small and medium size manufacturers, not to mention wholesalers and retailers, whether in the form of sole proprietor- ships, partnerships or corporations, that are subject to suits for products liability. One wonders how many of these entities are aware of the extent of their exposure and whether they are prop- B.B.A., 1960, University of Texas; LL.B., 1965, University of Texas; LL.M., 1969, Harvard. Member of the Texas and American Bar Associa- tions. Associate Professor of Law, University of Nebraska. See R. KEETON, VENTUmIG To Do JusicE. (1969). 2 This exposure has but recently been labeled products liability. As long as the basis of liability of the source of the product was restricted to negligence, the victim's cause of action was merely another personal injury or property damage suit, and seemed to call for no special name to distinguish it. Even the early food cases, e.g., Jacob E. Decker & Sons, Inc. v. Capps, 139 Tex. 609, 164 S.W.2d 828 (1942), which recog- nized strict liability against the manufacturer without regard to priv- ity, were not given a special name. With the advent, however, of strict liability as to defective products, whether one talks in terms of warranties or RESTATEMENT SECOND OF TORTS § 402A (1965), (see Greenman v. Yuba Power Products, 59 Cal. 2d 57, 63, 27 Cal Rptr. 697, 701, 377 P.2d 897, 901 (1962)), the term products liability developed to denote, not necessarily a particular theory of action since all three theories are subsumed by the term, but a certain class of cases in- volving the marketing of unreasonably dangerous products. The term Products Hazard has been used in insurance policies to denominate the applicable coverage, regardless of theory of liability.

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