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Article: Woodworking community pushes for product liability reform.
- Article from:
- Wood & Wood Products
- Article date:
- June 1, 1991
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Vance Publishing Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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PRODUCT LIABILITY REFORM
In many minds, what started out centuries ago as a good and just thing has developed, or deteriorated, into something of a national disaster, legally and economically. "Tort Law," which provides the basis for product liability litigation, originally was designed to protect the individual injured by an unsafe machine or environment. But the redefinition of the word "negligence" into "strict liability" in the early '60s and the addition of "punitive damages" in the early '70s led to the creation of a hidden "Tort Tax" with the following, countrywide results, according to the American Tort Reform Assn.:
* Total cost of the U.S. Tort ...