Article by Hartwin Bungert
This Article focuses primarily on the typical three person configuration: manufacturer/seller/purchaser. It is not necessary to distinguish between purchaser and user—thus creating a four-person configuration-first, because they are usually one and the same, and second, because the kind of harm to be concentrated on, harm to the product itself, will only be felt by the owner who is the purchaser but not necessarily the user.
In some cases, the purchaser buys the product directly from the manufacturer. Consequently, manufacturer and seller become one, resulting in a two-person configuration. This configuration, however, does not create materially different problems. The most challenging question products liability law poses is how the purchaser of a defective product can obtain a remedy for damages when his claims against the seller do not work out, either because the seller went bankrupt or because the contractual claims are barred by the statute of limitations. Thus, this Article concentrates on noncontractual claims against the manufacturer or against the seller in his capacity as manufacturer.
About the Author
Hartwin Bungert. Lecturer in Law (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) at the Institute of International and Comparative Law, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich; F.R.G. Referendar (J.D.), Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, F.R.G., 1989; LL.M., University of Chicago, 1991.
Citation
66 Tul. L. Rev. 1179 (1992)