2019/20
807 - Masters Centre of the Department of Law
8071 - Advanced Master in Legal Sciences
31673 - Advanced course on tort law
Rosa Mila Rafel, Sonia Ramos Gonzalez
Contents
Programme
1. Statutes on Product Liability of the European Union (Directive 85/374 amended by the Directive 1999/34) and of some European Union State Members (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain)
2. Statutes on Product Safety of the European Union (Directive 2001/95) and of some European State Members (Germany and Spain)
3. Case Law of the European Court of Justice on products liability (1997-2009)
4. Some Regulatory Agencies on Product Liability and Safety (European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection -DG SANCO-) and some other national Agencies (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain)
5. Concept of product
6. Concept of defective product
6.1. Manufacturing defect
6.2. Design defect
6.3. Failure to warn
7. Concept of safe product
8. Recalls and withdrawals
9. Introduction to RAPEX (Rapid Alert System for non-food consumer products)
10. Potential defendants
10.1. Manufacturer of a finished product
10.2. Manufacturer of a raw material
10.3. Manufacturer of a component part
10.4. Importer
10.5. Dealer
10.6. Insurer
11. Potential Plaintiffs
11.1. Consumers
11.2. Bystanders
11.3. Workers
11.4. Companies
12. Joint and Several Liability
13. Contribution or Reimbursement
14. Comparative Negligence
15. Defenses
15.1. Manufacturer did not distribute the product
15.2. According to the circumstances, it is likely that the defect did not exist at the time of distribution
15.3. The product was not manufactured for sale or any other form of distribution
15.4. Compliance with mandatory regulations
15.5. State of the Art Defense
16. Harms covered (death or bodily injury and damage to private property) and not covered (pain and suffering and economic loss) by the Directive 85/374.
17. Statute of Limitations (Section 10 Directive 85/374) and Statute of Repose (Section 11 Directive 85/374)
18. Products Liability and Barriers to Entry
19. Law Applicable to Products Liability: Regulation (EC) No 864/2007 (Rome II)
20. Alternative Dispute Resolution
20.1. Arbitration
20.2. Mediation
20.3. Out of Court Settlement
Sessions
Session 1
Contents: Main characteristics of Directive 85/374/ECC, July 25th, on products liability and the extent of the harmonization achieved by the European legislator.
Readings:
Judgment of the European Court of Justice (First Chamber), June 4, 2009, C-285/08, Moteurs Leroy Somer v. Dalkia
Judgment of the European Court of Justice (Fifth Chamber), April 25, 2002, C-183/00, María Victoria González Sánchez v. Medicina Asturiana, S.A.
Judgment of the European Court of Justice (Fourth Chamber), November 20, 2014, C-310/13, Novo Nordisk Pharma GmbH v. S.
Session 2
Contents: Concept of Product. Information as a product. Product and Service.
Readings:
Jane Stapleton, "Software, Information and the Concept of 'Product'" 89 Tel Aviv Studies in Law 147 (1989).
Winter v. Putnam's Sons (938 F.2d 1033 (9th Cir. 1991).
Judgment of the European Court of Justice (First Chamber), June 4, 2009, C-285/08, Moteurs Leroy Somer v. Dalkia France, Ace Europe
Session 3
Contents: Strict liability and the concept of defect. Manufacturing Defect.
Readings:
Comments to Section 2 (b) of the Restatement of the Law of Torts: Products Liability (1998)
German Supreme Court Decision, May 9, 1995, NJW 1995, 2162.
Sections 11.14 through 11.18. Mark A. Geistfeld, “Products Liability”, Michael Faure (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Law and Economics, 2nd. ed., Vol. 1: Tort Law and Economics, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham (UK) - Northampton (MA), 2010. On-line version available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1396369.
Session 4
Contents: Design Defect and Failure to warn defect
Readings:
French Supreme Court Decision, January 24th, 2006 (Bull. civ. I 2006 no. 33, p. 31, Patient v. Aventis Pasteur MSD)
French Supreme Court Decision, March 3rd, 1998 (Bull. civ. I 1998 no. 95, p. 63, Case Scovazzo v. Les Laboratoires Léo).
James A. Henderson, Aaron D. Twerski, Drug Design Liability: Farewell to Comment K, Brooklyn Law School Legal Studies, Research Paper No. 409, April 201, available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2600601
Comments to Section 2 (c) of of the Restatement of the Law of Torts: Products Liability (1998)
Session 5
Contents: Recent developments on the concept of defect
Readings:
Spanish Supreme Court Decision, December 9th, 2010. Trilucent Breast Implants Case.
Judgment of the European Court of Justice, March 5, 2015. Boston Scientific Medizintechnik GmbH c. AOK Sachsen-Anhalt-DIe Gesundheitskasse (C-503/13) y c. Betriebskrankenkasse RWE (C- 504/13)
Session 6
Contents: Causation and burden of proof.
Readings:
Judgment of the European Court of Justice, June 21, 2017, N.W. et al. v. Sanofi Pasteur MSD SNC et al. (C-621/15)
Jean-Sébastien Borghetti, "Causation in Hepatitis B Vaccination Litigation in France: Breaking Through Scientific Uncertainty?", Chicago-Kent Law Review 2016, vol. 91:2, p. 543-566.
Session 7
Contents: Potential defendants and plaintiffs
Readings:
Judgment the European Court of Justice (Grand Chamber), January 10, 2006, C-402/03, Skov Æg v Bilka Lavprisvarehus A/S and Bilka Lavprisvarehus A/S v Jette Mikkelsen, Michael Due Nielsen
Judgment of the European Court of Justice, December 21, 2011, C-495/10, Centre hospitalier universitaire de Besançon v. Thomas Dutrueux, Caisse primaire d’assurance maladie du Jura.
Session 8:
Contents: Joint and Several Liability. Contribution or Reimbursement. Comparative Negligence. Crashworthiness
Readings:
D’Amario v. Ford Motor Co. [806 So. 2d 424 (Fla. 2001)]
Session 9:
Contents: Defenses. In particular, State of the Art Defense.
Readings:
Judgment of the European Court of Justice (Fifth Chamber), May 10, 2001, C-203/99, Henning Veedfald v Århus Amtskommune
Judgment of the European Court of Justice (Fifth Chamber), May 29, 1997, C-300/95, Commission of the European Communities v. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Session 10
Contents: Time restrictions on claiming and time of commercialization
Readings:
Judgment of the European Court of Justice (First Chamber), February 9, 2006, C-127/04, Declan O'Byrne v. Sanofi Pasteur MSD Ltd, Sanofi Pasteur SA.
Judgment of the European Court of Justice (Grand Chamber), December 2, 2009, C-358-08, Aventis Pasteur S.A. c. OB
Session 11
Contents: Product Safety and Product Liability. US Preemption Doctrine.
Readings:
Main material: Schmitt v. TÜV Reihnland (P.I.P. Implants case), February 16, 2017
Supplementary material:
Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., 552 U.S. 312 (2008), February 20, 2008
Wyeth v. Levine, 555 U.S. 555 (2009), March 4, 2009
Pliva, Inc., et. al. v. Mensing (567 U.S._2011) June 23, 2011
Bruesewitz et al. v. Wyeth LLC et al., 562 U.S. _(2011), February 22, 2011
Session 12
Contents: Autonomous Vehicles
Readings:
Main material: Mark A. Geistfeld, "A Roadmap for Autonomous Vehicles: State Tort Liability, Automobile Insurance, and Federal Safety Regulation", 105 Calif. L. Rev. 1611 (2018)
Supplementary material: Mark A. Geistfeld, "The Regulatory Sweet Spot for Autonomous Vehicles", 53 Wake Forest Law Review (Forthcoming). NYU School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 18-29 (2018, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3172208)