Injury from Dangerous Products
If you think the prescription drug you took for headaches caused your heart attack, the Food and Drug Administration says you can't sue the maker for injury if it met agency standards. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says you can't sue a mattress maker if your mattress bursts into flame despite meeting CPSC standards. Companies making sport utility vehicles would get similar protection from suits brought by people injured or the families of those killed in rollovers under National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposals for stronger roofs.
These federal agencies assert that their rules override state product liability laws and prevent innocent consumers from holding careless product makers accountable for putting profits over people. Most of these claims are rooted in statements in the introductions or preamble to federal agency rules. This has become a silent form of tort reform since the federal agencies not Congress creates these changes in the law. There is little if any checks and balances on what these agencies put in the preamble to their rules.
This has outraged consumer groups and legislators who find this tactic patently unfair. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, said at hearings last fall that agencies have issued at least a dozen rules to shield drug and other product manufacturers from liability.
Of course, as an Orlando injury lawyer we know that the threat of civil litigation gives corporations a powerful incentive to make their products safer. We will take a further look at this important issue in future blogs. The public has a right to know that its federal agencies are choosing to protect corporate interests to the detriment of innocent consumers.
