COURSE NUMBER & NAME: 357 Product Liability Law

CREDIT HOURS: Two (2) REQUIRED: no ELECTIVE: yes

PREREQUISITES (Required): Presumably Torts and hopefully Uniform Commercial Code (particularly Sales and Warranty Law)

PREREQUISITES (Advised): Uniform Commercial Code and particularly Sales and Warranty Law.

WHEN OFFERED:

SUBSTANTIVE COVERAGE AND OBJECTIVES OF COURSE:

A complete review of the current status of product liability law, including an examination of the bases of liability (warranty, misrepresentation, negligence and strict liability); issues relating to proximate cause; issues related to industry liability, market share and enterprise liability; a review of defenses available (comparative negligence, assumption of the risk, product misuse; product alteration, governmental standards pre-emption, statutes of limitations and statutes of repose, learned intermediary doctrine, idiosyncratic reaction); a review of damages issues peculiarly related to product liability law; evidentiary problems such as those related to expert witnesses and spoliation; an examination on the type of entities who are liable under presently existing product liability law (employers, lessors, bailors, franchisors, used product sellers, real estate vendors, landlords and personal service providers); and an examination in detail of the Tennessee Product Liability Act of 1978.

RELATION TO OTHER OFFERINGS IN CURRICULUM:

See prerequisites (required and advised) listed above.

RELATION TO BAR EXAM SUBJECTS:

I understand from discussion with several students that several product liability questions appeared on the most recent Bar Examination.

RELATION TO CAREER OPPORTUNITIES:

Persons interested in prosecution or defense of product liability cases and those who might represent (in-house or otherwise) manufacturing and distributing corporations would benefit from this course.