Article by Joseph M. Costello
Developing alongside the ever changing body of maritime law is the rapidly expanding area of products liability. The courts have come a long way since MacPherson v. Buick, The OSCEOLA, and their progeny. The purpose of this article is to give insight into the forensic issues resulting from the marriage of these two dynamic branches of the law. This article will examine the historical development of products liability and how that theory has been incorporated into admiralty law.
The courtship of these two bodies of law began, but remained undeveloped, until Sieracki v. Seas Shipping Co. Sieracki extended the rights of a seaman to a longshoreman. Thus, the court found that longshoremen were entitled tothe protection of the warranty of seaworthiness. In buttressing its decision, the Sieracki court cited MacPherson v. Buick.
The principles of law as set forth in MacPherson remained static until Henningsen v. Bloomfield Motors, Inc. Throughout the United States, several courts followed Henningsen in rapid succession. Eventually, these principles of strict liability were codified in the Restatement (Second) of Torts.
After strict liability principles were firmly established in the tort law, maritime practitioners began initiating causes of action sounding in breach of warranty and strict liability in addition to those sounding in such theories as unseaworthiness and simple negligence. In the beginning, courts were reluctant to allow such causes of action to stand. Their rationale was that strict liability had not been universally accepted in the common law by state and federal courts. However, in the ensuing years, the majority of the state and federal courts adopted some form of strict liability when applying the common law. Thus, courts sitting in admiralty followed suit and adopted the doctrine of strict liability, with contributory negligence still acting as a partial bar to recovery. The Supreme Court in East River S.S. Corp. v. Transamerica Delaval, Inc. answered affirmatively any lingering question of whether strict liability is a part of maritime law.
About the Author
Joseph M. Costello. LL.B., Fordham University, 1951.
Citation
62 Tul. L. Rev. 587 (1988)