Products liability law governs liability for commercial transfer (sale) of products that cause harm because they were defective and/or falsely represented, 就是說產品責任法管商業產品銷售和流通所導致的缺陷產品傷害或者錯誤陳述產品。這一把大傘裡又包括很多理論,比如Negligence疏忽(我們在之前的一篇文章中分析過), Misrepresentation錯誤陳述。

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有一個理論我想抽出來講的是Breach of Warranty違反保證,裡面又包含了Express Warranty(明示保證)和Implied Warranty(默示保證)。這和合同法是一個交叉理論,Express Warranty: P may recover if the seller represents a product quality that does not exist and product did not have that quality and as a consequence P was injured明示保證說的是原告可以得到賠償如果賣家所陳述的質量並沒有存在以及產品導致原告受傷是因為質量不夠好。比如被告告訴原告這台車的擋風玻璃是抗震的,所以被告買了這台車,但是地震的時候玻璃碎了,劃傷了原告的眼睛,這就是違反了明示保證。Implied Warranty: Seller does not have to say anything about it but law implies. P may recover if the seller’s product has adverse effect that makes it unfit for ordinary or particular purposes, you harmed when it fails to operate for intended purpose默示保證說的是賣家不需要說什麼,但法律還是保護的。原告可以得到賠償如果賣家的產品帶來有害的影響,或者不合適正常使用目的,或者你使用時受到了傷害。舉例,你買車總不希望車子一發動後就左搖右擺的,雖然不用在合同中寫明,但是一台車就該正常上路可以開。

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再來講一個最重要的嚴格產品責任Strict Products Liability,Restatement 402A裡頭提出Strict Products Liability有一些元素需要注意。首先要看Proper P 合適的原告以及 Proper D合適的被告。Proper D合適的被告必須是合適的賣家,整個產品鏈中的賣家,並不包含商業外面的。比如電影院就是商業賣家,如果它賣的糖果的話,就是合適的被告。如果一個小女孩想賣女童子軍餅乾,她只是臨時賣賣餅乾籌款,那麼她就不是合適的被告。Proper P合適的原告必須是有缺陷的產品使用者或者買家。

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我們再來看這裡面有三種情況會發生: manufacture defect製造缺陷, design defect設計缺陷, inadequate warning警告不充足。

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第一,Manufacturing Defect製造缺陷: this particular product is defective and is different from all of the others,意思就是這個廠家生產的這種產品異於其他廠家生產的。Manufacture defect廠家責任很容易理解,從案例裡面歸納出來有三個元素(1)Places product in the market把產品投放市場,(2)he knows that it is to be used without inspection for defects這個廠家指導客戶使用這個產品前會不檢查, (3)Proves to have defect that cause injury to a human being必須證明這個產品缺陷會導致他人受傷。比如原告站在一台車後面被撞傷了因為這台車的剎車有問題,原告需要證明這台車unreasonably dangerous不合理的危險。原告不僅可以告廠家沒有合適的組裝車輛,也可以告廠家這個剎車的設計有缺陷。

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篇幅有限,見下一篇。

Published by 肖俊俏

肖俊俏,律师,客座教授,教育学博士教育行政管理方向(2014),法律博士(2019),工商管理学博士信息与数据科学方向(2021),葫芦丝演奏家。 Junqiao Xiao, Attorney at Law; Adjunct Professor at CSML, CSPP, AIU. Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Management (2014); Juris Doctor (2019); Doctor of Business Administration - Information and Data Science (2021); Hulusi Musician.

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