Word: torts
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...much advertised power lathe. His wife bought him one; it promptly shot a hunk of wood into his head. In upholding a verdict based on faulty design, the court ruled that injured consumers need not claim a theoretical "implied warranty" but may rely simply on "strict liability in tort." Said the court: "A manufacturer is strictly liable in tort when an article he places on the market, knowing that it is to be used without inspection for defects, proves to have a defect that causes injury to a human being...
...least partly belying Belli, many judges are still loath to stack all the odds against manufacturers, and the doctrine of strict liability is unlikely to be applied universally to all products. Even so, it is easily the most spectacular development in modern tort law-the most potent new weapon aimed at making business safeguard consumers...
...without a trial. Never before had such a case been successfully pleaded, the state pointed out. In 1963 the Illinois Appellate Court dismissed a similar suit (Zepeda v. Zepeda) on the ground that recognition of a bastard's right to collect damages would mean creation of a new tort. If that happened, ruled the Illinois court, "one might seek damages for being born of a certain color, another because of race, one for being born with a hereditary disease, another for inheriting unfortunate family characteristics; one for being born into a large and destitute family, another because a parent...
...latter three torts often conflict with the constitutional rights of free speech and press, but in the Hambergers' case, the applicable tort of intrusion requires only "the invasion of something secret, secluded or private pertaining to the plaintiff." As for bugged bedrooms, ruled Kenison, "this is the type of intrusion that would be offensive to any person of ordinary sensibilities...
Such intrusion goes "beyond the limits of decency," said the judge, and Defendant Eastman could not avoid the suit by arguing lack of proof that anyone ever heard the bedroom sounds. The tort of intrusion does not require "publicity and communication to third persons, although this would affect the amount of the damages...