For decades, basic tort principles have required product liability plaintiffs to prove a causal link between their injuries and an individual defendant’s conduct. Minor exceptions for alternative liability, enterprise liability and market share liability (in a minority of states) have left these bedrock principles largely unchanged. However, recent developments lessening plaintiffs’ burdens of proof regarding causation and liability are rendering more defendants responsible for the conduct of others. Listed below are theories under which plaintiffs have attempted to expand liability, the industries impacted, and the mixed results with which plaintiffs’ efforts have been met.
This article originally appeared in Inside Counsel, June 3, 2015.
