products liability

Air and Liquid System Corp. v. Devries

Issues

Does a bare-metal manufacturer have a duty to warn users of asbestos-related hazards where a third party added asbestos-containing components to the manufacturer’s product?

In this case, the Supreme Court will decide whether a manufacturer may be held liable under maritime law for injuries caused by third-party products that were added to the manufacturer’s product. Air and Liquid Systems Corp. argues that a manufacturer has no duty to warn against the asbestos-related dangers of third-party products. Roberta G. Devries and Shirley McAfee, whose husbands died of asbestos-related illnesses, counter that imposing a duty to warn is reasonable because bare-metal manufacturers should reasonably foresee that their products will be used with asbestos-containing products. Because the injured parties were U.S. Navy sailors, this case also asks the Supreme Court to consider principles of maritime law. The outcome will determine the contours of recovery in the admiralty context.

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

Whether products-liability defendants can be held liable under maritime law for injuries caused by products that they did not make, sell, or distribute.

Respondents Roberta G. Devries and Shirley McAfee (“Devries and McAfee”) separately filed suit in Pennsylvania state court, alleging that their deceased husbands, John B. Devries and Kenneth McAfee, had contracted cancer after being exposed to asbestos in the United States Navy. In re: Asbestos Product Liability Litigation (No. VI) at 5.

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design defect

A design defect means that the product was manufactured correctly, but the defect is inherent in the design of the product itself, which makes the product dangerous to consumers. For example, mechanical defects, which are common in cars and other motor vehicles.

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manufacturing defect

Manufacturing defects are a type of product defect that can lead to products liability. This kind of defect occurs when a product departs from its intended design and is more dangerous than consumers expect the product to be.

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Philip Morris U.S.A. v. Williams

Issues

1. Whether, when the Supreme Court remands a case and instructs a state court to apply a constitutional standard, the state court can then decide the case using a procedural rule not previously mentioned in litigation.

2. Whether punitive damages 97 times greater than compensatory damages can be awarded based on the reprehensibility of a defendant’s conduct rather than the harm actually suffered by the plaintiff.

Court below

 

In 1997, Mayola Williams’s husband Jesse Williams died from lung cancer as a result of smoking cigarettes manufactured and marketed by Philip Morris USA Inc. Mayola Williams sued Philip Morris alleging negligence, strict product liability, and fraud. At trial, the court rejected Philip Morris’s request for a jury instruction on punitive damages which stated that Philip Morris could not be punished for harms suffered by nonparties. The jury awarded Williams $79.5 million dollars in punitive damages. In Philip Morris USA v. Williams (“Williams II”), the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the decision of the Oregon Supreme Court upholding this award and instructed the lower court to apply its standard of prohibiting punishment of a defendant for damage to nonparties. On remand, the Oregon Supreme Court upheld its decision, finding that a state procedural law not previously addressed justified the trial judge’s denial of the requested instruction. In this case, the Court will decide whether a lower court can decline to apply a standard that the Court has articulated and instead uphold its ruling on state procedural law grounds. This decision will affect the Supreme Court’s institutional supremacy and state courts’ treatment of punitive damages awards.

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

When this case was last before it, this Court reversed the decision of the Oregon Supreme Court and held that due process precludes a jury from imposing punitive damages to punish for alleged injuries to persons other than the plaintiff. Philip Morris USA v. Williams, 127 S. Ct. 1057, 1065 (2007). This Court then remanded the case to the Oregon Supreme Court with directions to “apply the [constitutional] standard we have set forth.” Ibid. On remand, however, the Oregon Supreme Court refused to follow this Court’s directive. Instead, the Oregon court “adhered to” the judgment that this Court had vacated because it found that Philip Morris had procedurally defaulted under state law and thereby forfeited its claim of federal constitutional error. App., infra, 22a.

The questions presented—the second of which was accepted for review but not reached when this case was last before the Court—are:

1. Whether, after this Court has adjudicated the merits of a party’s federal claim and remanded the case to state court with instructions to “apply” the correct constitutional standard, the state court may interpose—for the first time in the litigation—a state-law procedural bar that is neither firmly established nor regularly followed.

2. Whether a punitive damages award that is 97 times the compensatory damages may be upheld on the ground that the reprehensibility of a defendant’s conduct can “override” the constitutional requirement that punitive damages be reasonably related to the plaintiffs harm.

In 1950, Jesse Williams began smoking cigarettes and eventually smoked three packs a day of Marlboros, which are manufactured and marketed by Philip Morris USA Inc. (“Philip Morris”). See Brief for Petitioner, Philip Morris USA Inc.

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Philip Morris USA Inc. v. Williams

Issues

  1. Among the three guideposts that courts should consider when reviewing punitive damages, can the high degree of reprehensibility of the defendant’s conduct and the similarity between the punitive damages award and authorized civil penalties in comparable cases supersede the consideration that punitive damages should be proportionate to the harm suffered by the plaintiff?
  2. Can a jury punish a defendant for harms suffered by non-parties without violating due process?
Court below

 

Mayola Williams brought suit against Philip Morris U.S.A. alleging that Philip Morris fraudulently and negligently caused the death of her husband, who smoked Philip Morris cigarettes for over forty years. The Oregon Supreme Court affirmed a trial jury’s punitive damages award of $79.5 million. Philip Morris contends that the punitive damages award was unconstitutionally excessive because it was not reasonably related to Mr. Williams’ injuries. Williams argues that the Oregon Supreme Court was within its discretion to affirm the trial jury’s punitive damages award because the award conformed with many of the guidelines for determining reasonable damages, and those guidelines are the most important factor. This decision will impact punitive damages calculation in product liability and other tort cases.

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

  1. Whether, in reviewing a jury’s award of punitive damages, an appellate court’s conclusion that a defendant’s conduct was highly reprehensible and analogous to a crime can “override” the constitutional requirement that punitive damages be reasonably related to the Plaintiff’s harm.
  2. Whether due process permits a jury to punish a defendant for the effects of its conduct on non-parties.

Jesse Williams died from cancer as a result of smoking Philip Morris brand cigarettes for over forty years. Williams v. Philip Morris, 340 Or. 35, 38 (2006).

Additional Resources

  • Charles Lane, Justices To Rule on Punitive Damages, Wash. Post, May. 31, 2006, at D01
  • Brief of the American Tort Reform Association as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioner, Philip Morris USA v. Williams, 126 S.Ct. 2329 (2006) (No. 05-1256).
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products liability

Overview

Products liability refers to the liability of any or all parties along the chain of manufacture of any product for damage caused by that product. This includes the manufacturer of component parts (at the top of the chain), an assembling manufacturer, the wholesaler, and the retail store owner (at the bottom of the chain). Products containing inherent defects that cause harm to a consumer (or someone to whom the product was loaned, given, etc.) of the product would be the subjects of products liability suits.

U.S. Constitution and Federal Statutes

State Material

Uniform Laws

State Statutes

Riegel v. Medtronic

Issues

Do the Medical Device Amendments, which were intended to replace state regulation of medical devices with centralized federal regulation, forbid injured patients from asserting state-law claims against manufacturers that received premarket approval from the Food and Drug Administration?

 

In 1996, a catheter burst during Charles Riegel's angioplasty. Riegel and his wife filed a product liability complaint against the catheter's manufacturer, Medtronic, Inc. A federal district court dismissed the complaint, holding that the Medical Device Amendments ("MDA") preempted most of the claims. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal and the Riegels appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The MDA generally forbids states from imposing requirements on devices that received premarket approval from the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"). Because the complaint depends on state law, Medtronic argues that letting it proceed would impose state requirements, usurp the power of the FDA, and stifle innovation in the medical field. Mrs. Riegel, who was substituted as plaintiff after her husband died, argues that while Congress gave the FDA power to regulate medical devices, it never meant to stop private citizens from suing negligent manufacturers. The outcome in this case will likely depend on the Supreme Court's style of statutory interpretation as well as its beliefs about the best way to manage the complex world of medical devices.

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

Whether the express preemption provision of the Medical Device Amendments to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. § 360k(a), preempts state-law claims seeking damages for injuries caused by medical devices that received premarket approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

In 1996, Dr. Eric Roccario attempted to unclog a "diffusely diseased" and "heavily calcified" artery supplying Charles Riegel's heart. See Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., 451 F.3d 104, 107 (2d Cir.

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