Posted 9/11/08
ANNOUNCING A BROOKLYN LAW SCHOOL SYMPOSIUM
COMMEMORATING THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF TORTS: PRODUCTS LIABILITY
THE PRODUCTS LIABILITY RESTATEMENT: WAS IT A SUCCESS?
Thursday, November 13, 2008, 9:00 am - 5:15 pm and
Friday, November 14, 2008, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
RSVP: http://www.brooklaw.edu/rsvp
OVERVIEW:
When the American Law Institute decided to launch a new
Restatement of Torts in 1992, it started with the torts
topic that most urgently needed restating: products
liability. Section 402A of the Second Restatement, the
products liability blackletter, had been cited more than
any other Restatement section. After being parsed in
thousands of appellate opinions that took divergent paths,
American products liability law needed clarification.
Clarification took form in Restatement (Third) of Torts:
Products Liability, adopted in 1998. Our Symposium unites
James A. Henderson Jr. and Aaron D. Twerski, the Reporters
for the Restatement, with a distinguished assembly of
academics and practitioners expert in products liability.
These participants will continue a decade of discussion
about the Restatement in a topical format.
Among these topics, design defect - for all products in
general, and for drugs specifically - has provoked especially
heated contention. Other aspects of the Restatement
continue to challenge and provoke. How far can lawyers and
judges push the failure-to-warn doctrine? Which defenses to
products liability should courts recognize in a regime of
comparative fault? Now that the Supreme Court has
manifested a strong interest in federal preemption of
common law personal-injury doctrine, should this topic
(omitted in 1998) join the Restatement? What directions
will American products liability take in the new century?
These and a host of ancillary questions will fill a
scintillating two-day program marking the 10th anniversary
of the Products Liability Restatement. Presenters will
share their reflections in conversations following a
roundtable format, reacting to one another and the
audience. Their papers on topics pertaining to products
liability and the Restatement will appear in a special
issue of the Brooklyn Law Review.
11.5 CLE credits in the State of New York are available (7.5
credits for Thursday and 4 credits for Friday). For more
information and to RSVP:
http://www.brooklaw.edu/rsvp
CO-SPONSORS:
Brooklyn Law Review; Gair, Gair, Conason, Steigman &
Mackauf; Herzfeld & Rubin, PC; and Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP
AGENDA: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13
8:30 am
Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00 am
Welcoming Remarks
Dean Joan G. Wexler, Joseph Crea Dean and Professor of Law,
Brooklyn Law School
Anita Bernstein, Anita and Stuart Subotnick Professor of
Law, Brooklyn Law School
9:15 am
The Restatement and Design Defects
Discussion Leader:
Hildy Bowbeer, Assistant Chief Intellectual Property
Counsel, 3M Company
Speakers:
David G. Owen, Carolina Distinguished Professor of Law and
Director of the Office of Tort Law Studies, University of
South Carolina School of Law
Edward K. Cheng, Associate Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law
School
Robert L. Conason, Partner, Gair, Gair, Conason, Steigman &
Mackauf
Larry S. Stewart, Partner, Stewart Tilghman Fox & Bianchi,
PA
Victor E. Schwartz, Partner, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP
Response:
James A. Henderson Jr., Frank B. Ingersoll Professor of
Law, Cornell Law School
Aaron D. Twerski, Irwin and Jill Cohen Professor of Law,
Brooklyn Law School
12:15 pm
Luncheon
1:30 pm
The Restatement and Liability for Defective Drugs
Discussion Leader:
Richard L. Cupp Jr., Associate Dean for Research and John
W. Wade Professor of Law, Pepperdine University School of Law
Speakers:
Michael D. Green, Williams Professor of Law, Wake Forest
University School of Law
Margaret A. Berger, Trustee Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law
School
Lars Noah, Professor of Law, University of Florida, Fredric
G. Levin College of Law
Paul D. Rheingold, Partner, Rheingold, Valet, Rheingold,
Shkolnik, & McCartney LLP
3:30 pm
The Restatement and Defenses to Liability
Discussion Leader:
Nicholas J. Wittner, Assistant General Counsel, Nissan
North America, Inc.
Speakers:
Ellen M. Bublick, Dan B. Dobbs Professor of Law, University
of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law
Michael Hoenig, Partner, Herzfeld & Rubin, PC
Richard C. Ausness, William T. Lafferty Professor of Law,
University of Kentucky College of Law
Mark A. Geistfeld, Crystal Eastman Professor of Law, New
York University School of Law
AGENDA: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14
9:00 am
Federal Preemption of Products Liability Litigation
Discussion Leader:
Anthony J. Sebok, Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo,
School of Law
Speakers:
Mary J. Davis, Associate Dean for Administration and
Faculty Development, and Stites and Harbison Professor of
Law, University of Kentucky College of Law
Robert L. Rabin, A. Calder Mackay Professor of Law,
Stanford Law School
Malcolm E. Wheeler, Partner, Wheeler Trigg Kennedy LLP
Sheila L. Birnbaum, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher
& Flom LLP
10:30 am
The Restatement and Liability for Failure to Warn
Discussion Leader:
Richard L. Cupp Jr., Associate Dean for Research and John
W. Wade Professor of Law, Pepperdine University School of
Law
Speakers:
Hildy Bowbeer, Assistant Chief Intellectual Property
Counsel, 3M Company
Kenneth Ross, Of Counsel, Bowman and Brooke LLP
Elena A. Cappella, Deputy Director, American Law Institute
Aaron D. Twerski, Irwin and Jill Cohen Professor of Law,
Brooklyn Law School
12:15 pm
The Next Decade in Products Liability
Discussion Leader:
Stephen G. Gilles, Professor of Law, Quinnipiac University
School of Law
Speakers:
Jane Stapleton, Ernest E. Smith Professor of Law,
University of Texas School of Law
Richard L. Cupp Jr., Associate Dean for Research and John
W. Wade Professor of Law, Pepperdine University School of
Law
Anita Bernstein, Anita and Stuart Subotnick Professor of
Law, Brooklyn Law School
1:00 pm
Concluding Remarks
Barbara J. Rothstein, U.S. District Judge for the Western
District of Washington; Director, Federal Judicial Center
Luncheon to follow