Reference no: EM131893008

Question: What do you think this article?

Negligence is failure to live up to the standard of care that a reasonable person would meet to protect others from an unreasonable risk of harm. It can be thought of as the tort of carelessness.

To prove negligence, a plaintiff must establish four elements: (1) duty, (2) breach of duty, (3) causation, and (4) damages. Failure to establish any one of those elements precludes recovery by the plaintiff.

Warranty is a guarantee or binding promise that goods (products) meet certain standards of performance.

Warranties may be either express (clearly stated by the seller or manufacturer) or implied (automatically arising out of a transaction). Either type may give rise to liability.

Strict liability occurs when one causes injury to another by engaging in an unreasonably dangerous activity.

Misrepresentation can actually take place not only when a product itself is not defective so long as an injury took place when the product was used on misrepresentation (intentional or not) by the seller.

An individual intentionally uses some sort of misrepresentation to gain an advantage over another person.

The Dow Chemical Company had knowingly deceived women by hiding information about the health risks of silicone used in breast implants. It was also found that Dow Chemical had failed to test silicone adequately before it was used in the human body.

Eight women, who are representative of the women in the class action, were injured by the devices. Tens of thousands of women claimed that they suffered a host of health problems from silicone-filled breast implants, including hardening of the breast tissue, implant rupture and disabling disorders that resemble autoimmune disorders like lupus.

There is abundant evidence that silicone implants ruptured at rates far higher than initially suggested by manufacturers. But the vast majority of recent scientific studies have found that the rate of autoimmune diseases in women with implants is about the same as for the general population.

On all the major issues put to it, the jury found after a five-month trial that Dow Chemical had been involved in testing silicone for human implants, had been negligent in those activities and had remained silent about the dangers of silicone for humans. The jury also found that the company had conspired with Dow Corning and that it had intentionally made misleading statements about silicone's safety.