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HOUSE PASSES NAW-BACKED LEGAL REFORM BILL: Product
Liability Bill Contains Key Wholesaler Provision
Washington, D.C. (February 16, 2000): The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors
(NAW) today applauded the House of Representatives for passing important
product liability legislation and looked forward to continuing the fight
in the U.S. Senate. "Reducing the exposure of wholesaler-distributors
and retailers to unwarranted product liability lawsuits and legal costs
has long been an NAW priority," said Dirk Van Dongen, president of
NAW.
The legislation, H.R. 2366, "The Small Business Liability Reform Act of 2000 passed the House 221-193 and includes a provision of high-priority to NAW members which, in product liability lawsuits, would significantly limit the liability of non-manufacturer product sellers such as wholesaler-distributors, retailers, lessors and renters only to harms caused by their own negligence or intentional wrongdoing, the product's breach of the seller's own express warranty, and for the product manufacturer's responsibility when the manufacturer is judgment-proof.
The bill also eliminates joint ("deep pockets") liability for "noneconomic loss" and limits punitive damage awards to $250,000 for employers with fewer than 25 full-time employees that become defendants in civil lawsuits. Neither of these provisions would apply to lawsuits involving certain egregious misconduct, and states would be able to opt-out by statute.
NAW's Vice President of Government Relations, Jim Anderson, who has been working on product liability reform for more than 10 years, said "the efforts of the House today builds significant momentum for the work we need to do to move this legislation through the Senate."
The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) is composed of Direct Member companies and a federation of over one hundred national, regional, state and local associations and their member firms which, collectively, total more than 40,000 companies.