About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

67 Calif. L. Rev. 435 (1979)
Understanding Products Liability

handle is hein.journals/calr67 and id is 449 raw text is: California Law Review VOL. 67 MAY 1979 No. 3 Foreword: Understanding Products Liability Gary T. Schwartzt Unquestionably, products liability ranks as one of the most con- spicuous legal phenomena of the last twenty years,I and the California Supreme Court has played a leading role in the elucidation of products liability doctrine. In Greenman v. Yuba Power Products, Inc. ,2 decided in 1963, the court first ruled that manufacturers are subject to strict liability for injuries resulting from defective products. In its Cronin decision nine years later3 the court reemphasized the defect prereq- uisite for strict liability, but rejected the Restatement's unreasonably dangerous gloss on defect,4 thereby leaving the defect concept in a rather barren state. In Barker v. Lu//Engineering Co.,' decided in Jan- uary 1978, a unanimous court finally attempted an explication of de- fect. The court noted (as have others) that product defects can be classed under three headings: manufacturing defects, design de- fects, and defects involving inadequate warnings or instructions accom- t Professor of Law, University of California, Los Angeles. B.A. 1962, Oberlin College; J.D. 1966, Harvard University. A much earlier version of this Foreword was submitted as a report to the California Legislature's Joint Committee on Tort Liability. In preparing that report and this Foreword, I spoke to about twenty experienced products lawyers in California: to them, my thanks. My appreciation of products liability theory has filtered through conversations with Cali- fornia colleagues like Professors William Cohen, Robert Ellickson, and Edmund Ursin. 1. Consider, for example, three law review symposia published during 1977-78: Symposiunm 1977 Products Liability Institute, 10 IND. L. REv. 755 (1977); Symposium: Product Liability, 29 MERc. L. REv. 373 (1978); Symposium on Products Liability Law: The Needfor Statutory Reform, 56 N.C.L. REV. 625 (1978). By now, the literature on products liability is voluminous; in this Foreword, it is cited selectively. 2. 59 Cal. 2d 57, 377 P.2d 897, 27 Cal. Rptr. 697 (1963). 3. Cronin v. J.B.E. Olson Corp., 8 Cal. 3d 121, 501 P.2d 1153, 104 Cal. Rptr. 433 (1972). 4. RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF ToRTs § 402A (1965). 5. 20 Cal. 3d 413, 573 P.2d 443, 143 Cal. Rptr. 225 (1978).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most