Practice Tip: Product Liability Litigation

Product liability litigation in the United States exploded between 1975 and 1997. “In less than a quarter century, the annual number of [product liability] cases filed in federal courts alone rose from 2,393 to 32,856.” Mathias Reimann, Liability for Defective Products at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century: Emergence of a Worldwide Standard, 51 Am. J. Comp. L. 751, 803 (2003). In the wake of this drastic increase, our legislative bodies and courts implemented varying degrees of tort reform. In 2003, probably in part due to this reform, the number of product liability cases filed in federal court had fallen to approximately 15,000 cases per year. Id. Approximately another 15,000 cases were filed in state court, making the total number of product liability cases filed in 2003 nearly 30,000. Id. This is approximately one product liability case for every 9,000 US inhabitants. Id.

Although recent statistics are difficult to obtain, it is clear that the amount of product liability litigation filed in the United States is unparalleled around the world. For example, as of 1995 there was approximately a 45-1 disparity in the number of product liability cases filed in the United States versus Canada. Bruce A. Thomas & Lawrence G. Theall, Products Liability and Innovation: A Canadian Perspective, 21 Can.-U.S. L.J. 313 (1995). Likewise, few lawyers in the UK can make a living from product liability law and only a few ever come across product liability cases. Reimann, at 805. In the United States, there were approximately 700 personal injury verdicts in excess of a $1 million in 1991. Gerald Walpin, America's Failing Civil Justice System: Can We Learn From Other Countries? 41 NYLSLR 647, 660 (1997). In the UK, there were approximately 40. Id. In 1996, Dow Chemical Corporation spent $1 on litigation for every $160 in sales in the United States. In Europe ' where there is no appreciable difference with regard to the types of products sold ' Dow spent one dollar on litigation for every $40,000 in sales. Stephen B. Presser, How Should the Law of Products Liability be Harmonized? What Americans Can Learn from Europeans, Global Liability Issues, FN 8, Vol. 2, February 2002.