Injury Lawsuits from Dangerous Products a Thing of the Past?
In our last blog we discussed efforts by federal agencies to protect product makers from injury lawsuits for selling dangerous products to consumers. This blog includes specific examples of federal agencies seeking to protect corporations from injury lawsuits under state law, including the laws of Florida.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has instituted rules on seat belts, roof-crush resistance and rear-object detection systems - and pre-empts state tort law in the preambles to those rules.
When the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced new flammability standards for mattresses the commission made a last-minute addition to the rule that pre-empts state tort law, the first such move in the commission's 33-year history.
The Food and Drug Administration pre-empts state tort law in coming out with new rules that require drug manufacturers to warn patients when they become aware of new drug risks.
While not involving dangerous products, in the field of railroad safety, the Federal Railroad Administration issued a rule that effectively grants immunity from state lawsuits to railroad companies in the event of a commuter train derailment. Amazingly, this occurred a few days after Congress approved a measure that preserved the right of victims to sue railroad companies in such instances.
Why should these giant companies be able to put innocent consumers at risk and then be protected from the consequences of their reckless behavior? As Orlando injury lawyers, we do not believe they should.
