Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, April 12, 1983
Business law vs. consumers
by Maxwell Glen
and Cody Shearer
When the 98th Congress retires next
year and pundits hold their annual
“Worst Piece of Legislation Contest,”
we’ll be ready with a nominee: the Uni
form Product Liability Act. It would all
but exempt makers of shoddy, unsafe or
improperly labeled goods from expen
sive injury lawsuits.
Introduced by Sen. Robert Kasten (R-
Wis.), who is not a lawyer, the legislation
represents an all-out assault on judicial
redress traditionally available to consum
ers. Unfortunately, the measure stands a
strong chance of passing through Con
gress by the end of the year.
To hear business tell the story, of
course, the Kasten bill is a long-overdue
play for clarity. Since the mid-1970s,
manufacturers claim, a burgeoning case
load of product-liability suits has left
many companies in doubt as to just what
is the law from state to state.
Product-liability reform guru Victor
Schwartz, who heads an alliance of 150
businesses and trade associations backing
the bill, says that industry wants a uni
form federal law to define for state courts
the conditions under which a manufac
turer is liable for injury stemming from
product use — usually cars, trucks and
pharmaceuticals. Simple enough, right?
Wrong. By Kasten’s reckoning, the
“uniform” code would effectively rewrite
Since the mid-1970s, manufactur
ers claim, a burgeoning caseload
of product-liability suits has left
many companies in doubt as to
just what is the law from state to
state.
liability standards that have long pro
tected consumers and kept careless com
panies on their toes. It would relieve
manufacturers of “strict” responsibility
for design defects and failure to warn
consumers while burdening plaintiffs
with a long list of standards that must be
proven before they recover damages. Ev
ery state would feel this flouting of case
law.
For example, if a car owner in New
Jersey wished to recover damages for a
collapsed car roof, under present law he
or she would only have to prove that the
roof had failed to perform “as reasonably
expected” or that the design’s risks out
weighed its benefits. Kasten’s uniform
code, however* would require the plain
tiff to prove that the manufacturer knew
or should have known about the danger
— a much more difficult and expensive
legal proposition and, ironically, by the
current law standards, irrelevant.
Meanwhile, Mary Ann Smith, an
American University tort law expert, said
the code would simply impose chaos on
state courts while offering little guidance
on how to interpret it. “State courts will
either have a monster on their hands or
they’ll interpret it in terms that they
already know — the old law,” Smith said.
Indeed, Smith contends that the body
of product liability law is already predict
able and, though it has grown quickly in
recent years, reliable. That it differs from
state to state is natural and not necessarily
all that bad (unless you dislike keeping
lawyers in business).
Slouch By Jim Earle
Ironically, possible federal godfather
ing of state court authority has led the
Reagan administration to withhold out
right support for Kasten’s code. While
the White House could throw in its
weight when the bill gets another com
merce committee hearing later this
month, the chance is that it will stay on
the sidelines.
Yet, as it looks now. Congress won’t
need a push from Reagan to make life
easier for producers, jeopardizing in the
process the health and saf ety of consum
ers. Given that, during the 1970s, dis
abling accidents out-distanced lawsuits
20-to-1, a bill such as Kasten’s would only
reduce manufacturers’ incentive for
making safe and useful products. More
consumers would be injured; fewer of
those injured could recover damages.
In the end, the pro-business bill may
only drive customers away.
Letter:
Food fair
outstanding
Editor:
“I can tell by your T-shirt that you were born in Texas and
that you’re not too hot on spelling.”
The International Food Fair spon
sored by the International Students’
Association is a unique and special event.
Where else can you sample foods and
pagentry from more than 31 nations?
The whole International Week is testi
mony to the outstanding effort that has
made ISA one of the largest and finest
international student organizations in
the nation. For those who missed it, my
condolences and encouragement to
attend next year.
David Mucci
MSC staff member
Similarity betwee® 1
Israel, America
hr f
Editor’s note: This is the first of a four-
part analysis written by members of the
Israel Club in conjunction with Israel
Awareness Week.
by Connie Himelhoch-Bally
y c .
States’ 207th anniversary of being an in
dependent nation. During this time,
America has evolved from a sparsely
populated country with a main emphasis
on establishing territorial domain, to a
country whose contributions have had
profound global effects.
This country was founded by people
seeking political independence, and we
have continued to hold the doors open to
many people whose own countries
embellish oppression.
The defined purpose for a country’s
existence cannot be given to its citizens by
any leader, but a defined purpose must
be established for goals to be attained and
perpetuated. A country whose goals are
deeply enmeshed with its purpose is
Israel. This year marks Israel’s 35th
Anniversary as an independent nation. It
is a country rich in history, constantly
adjusting to internal and external con
flicts. A country like our own, v
pie are hoping to find opportiri \ jpj(
identity and life choices. Hi"
years of independence has resul
many efforts to establish a pr
framework within which peace!
teractions can continue in tit
ahead.
On the Texas A&M Univeti
pus, beginning April 12 and com
through April 15, studentsandcoi
ity members will be holding
Awareness Week.” This willbeatia hU
tunity for the public to increase
awareness of the advances and con
tions by a country only 35 yearsti
The contributions to theadvana
of technologies in agriculture anii
national trade by a country so dive
young, cannot be overlooked.Itii
ample of people with variousci r ^
ana religious backgrounds u ll
together in a small area whiletni
build a homeland. It is muchthesi
America, in that its citizensareash
us live together, let us live in pet
Wednesday: U.S. foreign pc
wards Israel.
Wild wonderful world
of political explanatioi
by Arnold Sawislak
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Back in 1976,
Fred Harris analyzed his loss in one of
the presidential primaries with a charm
ingly creative explanation.
“I campaigned for the little people,"
the former Oklahoma senator said, “and
I guess they just weren’t tall enough to
reach the voting levers.”
He has concluded that
show a higher percentage of womp
men do not like Reagan and-ori
publican Party are skewed bv»
mothers and other ladies whom
l ied about losing governmenlta lied
ich(
Harris’ Theory of Voter Altitudes,
which is here capitalized in hopes of giv
ing it a place in the pantheon of Amer
ican political alibis, was not much less f an
ciful than some of the explanations we
have been getting from the current crop
of politicians about their own problems.
He described the group can®
“gender gap” as 21 to 40 yeaii
widowed or single heads of familc ^
recipients of assistance program
these women out of the equationjit
cated, the percentage of wonienai
who back the Republicans is mud
to even.
b >
he
ecu
Jar
ilh
ide
►Ar
ovidt
jnds
President Reagan, for example, has
attributed opposition to cuts in welfare
programs to poverty program bureauc
rats whose jobs were in jeopardy. Critic
ism of his administration’s environmen
tal policies, he has said, came from peo
ple who won’t “be happy until the White
House looks like a bird’s nest.”
Fahrenkopf said he got thisii
tion f rom analyzing polls, butthi
have been different from thosecii
tier this year by the American full
Association’s magazine, Public 0|
Using network surveys andUnil
of Michigan studies, the may
exit polls after the 1982 electionssl
female support of Republicans3n
centage points lower than male'
for GOP candidates.
He is no exception. Presidents John
son and Nixon regarded anti-war de
monstrators as long-haired, pot-smoking
hippies even when they could look out
the White House window and see mid
dle-aged, middle class Americans mar
ching to protest the Vietnam War.
Interior Secretary James Watt also has
come up with some interesting causes for
some distressing effects.
Crime at the Washington Monument
July 4 fireworks display, he decided, as
caused by rock and roll music. To solve
this problem, he has summoned Wayne
Newton from the quiet, law-abiding com
munity of Las Vegas, Nev., to sing at the
monument this year.
Now Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf of
the Republican National Committee has
joined the remarkable explanation
sweepstakes.
(With the exception of 1960,a
percentage of women than menli;
supporting GOP candidates in ci
sional elections since 1952, ok
Michigan studies showed.)
ABC polling figures showed!
gest gender gap was among 5
year-old women with post-grad#
lege educations and incomes of!
to $20,()()() a year.
The smallest gap was among
with high school diplomas only,!
in the $5,000-to-$ 15,000 range
two age groups, 18-24 and 50-$
From those Figures, it would be
reach the same conclusion as (lie
lican chairman. But, like Fred Hal
probably needs an answer iluf
doesn’t make his problems
than they seemed before he ash
question.
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
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