Product liability exemptions for FDA regulated activities could raise economic efficiency.

Claims of a medical malpractice crisis stem in large part from recent increases in malpractice insurance rates, with premiums for some individual doctors set in the hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Most doctors, actuaries, and insurance officials attribute these costs to the lack of caps on liability awards....

The Fairness in Asbestos Injury Recovery (FAIR) Act, S. 852, would establish a $140 billion trust fund to compensate victims of asbestos-related diseases, taking most cases out of the litigation system. Would the establishment of this trust fund solve the threat of unbounded liability for companies that used asbestos, or...

Ernst R. Berndt and Anjli C. Warner discuss their new book, U.S. Markets for Vaccines: Characteristics, Case Studies, and Controversies.

On August 19, 2005, a jury in Angleton, Texas, found Vioxx producer Merck liable for the death of fifty-nine-year-old Robert Ernst. The Brazoria county jury assessed a staggering $253 million ($24 million compensatory, $229 million punitive) in damages against Merck, although Texas law will cap the punitive damages at less...

The authors argue that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) is a colossal failure, yet seek to salvage some lessons from the ruins of SOX.

This study finds that contingent fees benefit plaintiffs and do not cause higher awards.

The announcedsettlement of the Vioxx litigationshows the weakness of the plaintiffs' claims and the weaknesses of the current pharmaceutical product liability law.