Connecticut High Court Holds That “Unfair Trade Practices” Claims That Subsume Elements Of A Product Liability Claim Are Barred

In a question of first impression certified to it by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the Supreme Court of Connecticut recently delivered a partial win for defendants facing state products liability and unfair trade practices claims arising from the same conduct.

In Glover v. Bausch & Lomb, Inc.,1 the Connecticut high court held that the Connecticut Product Liability Act’s (“CPLA”) exclusivity provision barred a plaintiff’s Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (“CUTPA”) claim for […]

By | August 9th, 2022 ||

FTC Gets Serious About Consumers’ Right To Repair Their Products

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is following through on its promise to crack down on violations of consumers’ right to repair the products they buy. Back in July 2021, the FTC announced that it would ramp up enforcement against companies who unfairly prevented customers from fixing products themselves or choosing their own repair shops. In July 2022, it announced actions accusing Harley-Davidson and MWE Investments, LLC (a manufacturer of Westinghouse outdoor power equipment) of doing […]

By | July 27th, 2022 ||

Enforcing The Line Between Product Liability And Public Nuisance

The Situation: Courts are increasingly confronted with attempts by the plaintiffs’ bar to repackage traditional product liability claims as public nuisance claims, as a ploy to circumvent various elements of product liability law.

The Result: Jones Day won a significant victory for Chevron in paraquat multidistrict litigation (“MDL”), convincing the MDL court to reject the public nuisance claims as disguised product liability claims.

Looking Ahead: After some outlier decisions expanding the scope of public nuisance liability beyond its traditional […]

By | May 15th, 2022 ||