Term
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Definition
| a manufacturer’s or seller’s tort liability for harm suffered by a buyer, user, or bystander and a result of a defective product |
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Term
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Definition
| a court ruling extending a manufacturer’s liability beyond the immediate purchase of an article to any user and to those who would likely be affected by the article’s use and who suffered harm from its use |
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Term
| Strict liability, or absolute liability |
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Definition
| liability that arises from inherently dangerous activities resulting in harm to another, regardless of the degree of care taken |
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Term
| Implied warranty of merchantability |
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Definition
| – a warranty representing to the buyer that merchandise is reasonably fit for the general purpose for which it was manufactured and sold |
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Term
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Definition
| the highest level of pertinent product scientific knowability, development, and technical knowledge existing at the time of a product’s manufacture |
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Term
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Definition
| the technological feasibility of producing a safer product based on existing scientific knowledge |
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Term
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Definition
| a plaintiff’s failure to discover a product defect or to guard against a possible defect |
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Term
| Active negligence, or assumption of risk |
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Definition
| a plaintiff’s voluntary use of a defective product with knowledge of the potential danger resulting from the defect |
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Term
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Definition
| a civil wrong arising from exposure to a toxic substance |
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Term
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Definition
| the body of law that deals with the environment’s maintenance and protection |
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Term
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Definition
| a program established by the Comprehensive Environment Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to study and remediate hazardous waste sites listed on the National Priority List (NPL |
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Term
| Potentially responsible parties (PRPs) |
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Definition
| those parties CERCLA defines as having potential liability and the duty to clean up a Superfund site |
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Term
| Commercial general liability (CGI) policy |
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Definition
| insurance that covers many of the common liability loss exposures faced by an organization, including its premises, operations, and products liability loss exposures |
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Term
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Definition
| insurance policy that provides coverage for occurrences that happened within the policy period even thought the policy may have expired |
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Term
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Definition
| a small sum awarded by a court to acknowledge that the plaintiff has suffered a legal wrong, but that the harm does not warrant substantial monetary relief |
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Term
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Definition
| Compensatory damages for actual losses that the plaintiff claims resulted from the defendant’s wrongful act |
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Term
| Loss of wages and earnings |
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Definition
| the compensatory damages to compensate a plaintiff for any loss of income directly related to a tort |
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Term
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Definition
| compensatory damages that do not have an economic value and that are presumed to follow from the type of wrong claimed by the plaintiff |
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Term
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Definition
| Physical pain, including that not connected to a physical injury |
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Term
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Definition
| a highly unpleasant mental reaction resulting from another person’s conduct for which a court can award damages |
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Term
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Definition
| the damages awarded by a court when the defendant has engaged in unreasonable conduct either with knowledge that it is unreasonable or with complete disregard of the fact that it is unreasonable |
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Term
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Definition
| a statute that preserves the right of a person’s estate to recover damages that person sustained between the time of injury and death |
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Term
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Definition
| two or more parties who are jointly responsible for committing a tort |
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Term
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Definition
| the right of a tortfeasor who has paid more than his or her proportionate share of the damages to collect from other tortfeasors responsible for the same tort |
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Term
| Enterprise liability, or industry-wide liability |
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Definition
| an expanded liability concept requiring each member of an industry responsible for manufacturing a harmful or defective product to share liability, when a manufacturer at fault cannot be identified |
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Term
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Definition
| an expanded liability concept that shifts the burden of proof to each of several defendants in a tort case when there is uncertainty regarding which defendant’s action was the proximate cause of the harm |
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Term
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Definition
| an expanded liability concept that applies when a product that has harmed a consumer cannot be traced to a single manufacturer; all manufacturers responsible for a substantial share of the market are named in the lawsuit and are liable for their proportional share of the judgment |
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Term
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Definition
| an expanded liability concept that apples when all defendants acted together or cooperatively |
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Term
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Definition
| an expanded liability concept that applies when two or more parties worked together to commit an unlawful act |
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Term
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Definition
| a liability concept that holds the owner of an automobile kept for the family’s use vicariously liable for damages incurred by a family member while using the automobile |
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Term
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Definition
| a class-action suit based on tort law rather than on contract law |
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Term
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Definition
| a statute limiting the time for filing suit, starting from the time the cause of action accrued |
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Term
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Definition
| a statute that requires a plaintiff to file a lawsuit within a specific time after a specific event |
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