Chapter 8 Summary

Chapter 8 addresses the particular moral and legal issues of product safety and liability. These issues have long been at the forefront of business ethics because of the many scandals (and, sadly, often the loss of life) that have resulted when manufacturers of products have not thought carefully enough about their duties to consumers. That said, there are limits to liability—most of us will agree that McDonald’s is not responsible for an extra inch around one’s belly from too many Big Macs.

The chapter opens with Peter Huber’s discussion of the pluses and minuses of tort liability. Huber recognizes that liability is necessary for protecting consumers but also advises us that tort liability is spiraling out of control.

Stanley J. Modic develops the ideas in Huber’s piece by explaining how the tort liability situation became as complex and unhelpful as it presently is. Modic argues that we should have caps to tort damages but also insists that the system will remain potentially unfair to (and dangerous for) consumers unless the persons who cause harm with products face potential criminal charges for their errors.

Henry Fairlie argues that Americans have developed a “fear of living”: an unnaturally and unreasonably high fear of the ordinary levels of risk present in everyday life. We desire a “risk-free society,” he argues, and this misleads our thinking (and our voting) on the questions of tort liability and acceptable risk.

Former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren E. Burger argues that, ultimately, lawyers (and judges and justices) are to blame for the crisis in the tort liability system. The legal profession, like the medical profession, is a kind of monopoly, and as a monopoly, it needs to regulate itself. It has failed to do so, he argues, and the legal profession must take a hard look at itself.

Mark Dowie looks at the classic case of what went wrong with the Ford Pinto. In this particularly awful case of risk calculation gone wrong, managers at Ford calculated the amount of money they would lose if they recalled a defective product versus the amount of money they would lose in lawsuits as a consequence of the deaths (by burning) that would likely result, and chose the latter as the preferable option because it proved cheaper.

Judith Jarvis Thomson discusses the complications that arise when we closely examine the relationship between causation and liability.

In the chapter’s final reading, Adam Thierer shows how the traditional American tort system might pose an obstacle to the growth of driverless car technology, and he suggests legislation that might protect the creators of such important technology from excessive litigation while providing compensation to those injured by it.

By the close of Chapter 8, you should:

Understand the moral foundations of the concepts of risk and liability
Understand the relationship between liability and justice
Understand why we should have limits on liability
Understand the argument that the legal system has worsened the moral and social problems associated with liability
Understand a defense of the present legal guarantees involved with liability
Understand several cases illustrating the moral problems of liability

Chapter 8 Summary

Suggested Readings