Product Liability Books

Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine

Marion Nestle

Amazon Price: $12.89 List Price: $18.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: University of California Press Amazon Marketplace: 55 new & used starting at $8.95

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Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Animal Care & Pets -> General
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Animal Care & Pets -> General AAS
Subjects -> Law -> Business -> Product Liability

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The story of the pet food recall of 2007 4 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Marion Nestle's book "Pet Food Politics" is about the pet food recall of 2007. For those of you who don't remember, there was a massive recall of pet food last summer. The recall began with cat food manufactured by Menu Foods (but sold under many other brand names including Iams, Nutro, and Hill's), but expanded into a large number of cat and dog foods under many different brand names. It became clear after the recall that the problem occurred because an unscrupulous Chinese supplier sold a mixture of wheat flour, cyanuric acid, and melamine as wheat gluten. As a pet owner, the recall inconvenienced me (I had to change my cats' foods). As a parent, I became greatly concerned about what I was feeding my daughter and began seriously looking at where the food I bought was produced. I bought this book because I wanted to better understand what happened.

I knew the basic story here, but did not know about the total number of pets who died (likely in the thousands), the reasons why melamine was substituted for the wheat gluten (cheap melamine looks like expensive protein when tested using standard industrial tests), nor what happened to the contaminated pet food (it was fed to livestock and made it into the human food chain).

This book is a fast read and is clear, well written, and very interesting. Unfortunately, it is too brief. I wish that Ms. Nestle had taken this opportunity to explain more about the pet food industry: its history, the major players, the processes used to make pet food. The story is fascinating, but it feels more like a New Yorker article than a book.

I would recommend this book to someone who was interested in the pet food recalls, though I think that most readers should start with other books about food production. Specifically, I would recommend Michael Pollan's excellent The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals or Marion Nestle's own What to Eat before reading this book, to get a feel for how food is produced and to understand some of the politics involved.

Editorial Review:

Marion Nestle, acclaimed author of Food Politics, now tells the gripping story of how, in early 2007, a few telephone calls about sick cats set off the largest recall of consumer products in U.S. history and an international crisis over the safety of imported goods ranging from food to toothpaste, tires, and toys. Nestle follows the trail of tainted pet food ingredients back to their source in China and along the supply chain to their introduction into feed for pigs, chickens, and fish in the United States, Canada, and other countries throughout the world. What begins as a problem "merely" for cats and dogs soon becomes an issue of tremendous concern to everyone. Nestle uncovers unexpected connections among the food supplies for pets, farm animals, and people and identifies glaring gaps in the global oversight of food safety.

Reckless Disregard: Corporate Greed, Government Indifference, and the Kentucky School Bus Crash

James S. Kunen

List Price: $23.00 By: Simon&Schuster Amazon Marketplace: 32 new & used starting at $0.97

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

James Kunen did an exceptional job. 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I had seen a road sign in Kentucky referring to a bus crash, but didn't know anything about it. One day I saw Mr. Kunen's book at a local bookstore and realized it was the same thing. When I started reading the book I couldn't put it down. Up until that day it was a road sign; afterwards it was a tragic memorial to the death of the innocent.

Excellent 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

My math teacher was on the bus when it crashed and allowed me to read one of his two copies of this book, 3 of his friends were killed and if it was n't for his other friend he would have died too for he was sitting 3 rows from the front and saw the youth director get blown up when the explosion occured.

Reckless Disregard 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I happen to know the grandparents (both sets) of one of the students killed in this crash. The book has a big impact on me, not only for the tragedy itself, but that it has a personal meaning also. I had a hardcopy of this book in the library in which I worked and now I want my own copy.

Editorial Review:

The story of corporate negligence and drunk driving that led to deaths for twenty-seven children and adults in a Kentucky school bus reveals the family who refused to settle their lawsuit and helped change standards to protect all children. 25,000 first printing.

Assuming the Risk : The Mavericks, the Lawyers, and the Whistle-Blowers Who Beat Big Tobacco

Michael Orey

Amazon Price: $32.00 List Price: $32.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Little, Brown and Company Amazon Marketplace: 71 new & used starting at $0.01

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Subjects -> Law -> Administrative Law -> Public

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Mississippi is not widely known for being first in anything; in fact, Michael Orey notes in Assuming the Risk, the state ranks last or near last on an embarrassing array of scales. And yet, he writes, it was in the courtrooms of this disparaged Southern state that a pioneering team of lawyers led the way in a politically controversial crusade against the tobacco industry. Mississippi was the first state in the nation to sue cigarette manufacturers to recover smoking-related health care costs incurred by the state's Medicaid program. The fierce legal battle resulted in a multibillion-dollar settlement and eventually led to hundreds of billions of dollars in fines levied against the tobacco industry when other states followed suit.

Though decidedly pro-plaintiff, Assuming the Risk is not another vituperative rant against the Evil Empire of Big Tobacco: Orey does not shout and stomp on his soapbox. Instead, the veteran legal journalist and Wall Street Journal editor coolly focuses on the objective facts, presenting the who, what, where, and when of a complex and contentious litigation. His well-researched and detailed narrative spotlights the key figures in this real-life morality play--the mavericks, lawyers, and whistleblowers--including one particularly revealing chapter on Jeffrey Wigand, a former research scientist for the tobacco firm Brown & Williamson, whose decision to break a confidentiality agreement by speaking with 60 Minutes investigative reporter Mike Wallace became the subject of the 1999 film The Insider. --Tim Hogan

Volunteers and the law: A guidebook

Robert W McMenamin

By: Jomac Publishing, Inc Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $3.60

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Reforming Products Liability

W. Kip Viscusi

Amazon Price: $64.00 List Price: $64.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harvard University Press Amazon Marketplace: 17 new & used starting at $9.66

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Popular Economics -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Popular Economics -> General AAS

Editorial Review:

The current products liability crisis is both familiar and puzzling: million-dollar awards for apparently frivolous claims, inadequate settlements for thousands of people with severe injuries, skyrocketing insurance premiums, an overburdened judicial system. The adverse effects of this crisis on product innovation may be particularly detrimental to the extent that they deprive consumers of newer and safer goods.

W. Kip Viscusi offers the first comprehensive and objective analysis of the crisis. He employs extensive, original empirical data to diagnose the causes and to assess the merits of alternative reform policies.

Drawing on both liability insurance trends and litigation patterns, Viscusi shows that the products liability crisis is not simply a phenomenon of the 1980s but has been developing for several decades. He argues that the principal causes have been the expansion of the doctrine of design defect, the emergence of mass toxic torts, and the increase in lawsuits involving hazard warnings. This explanation differs sharply from that of most other scholars, who blame the doctrine of strict liability. Viscusi reformulates the concept of design defect, grounding it in sound economic analysis. He also evaluates public policy regarding hazard warnings and proposes a new national approach.

More generally, the author sketches a comprehensive social risk policy, in which tort liability interacts with government health and safety regulation to foster a coherent set of institutional responses to health and safety risks. Reforming Products Liability will be of special interest to lawyers, judges, policymakers, economists, and all those interested in legal policy and health and safety issues.

Warranties: Planning, Analysis, and Implementation

James R. Brennan

List Price: $49.00 By: McGraw-Hill Professional Amazon Marketplace: 11 new & used starting at $17.66

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

It really depends.......... 3 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

The contents of this book is generally OK in terms of informative and educational. It gives you the general ideas of what warranty is all about. But one drawback, as I put my title, if you are in a private business, you might be dispointed because significant portion of this book is on Government businesses - Army, DOT,Air Force, etc., Especially on the "Warranty Costing"; but if you are in Government, then you will find it relevant and helpful.

Editorial Review:

This book enables you to plan, cost, negotiate, and execute favorable warranty contracts. Whether you're the supplier offering a warranty or the customer receiving it, knowing its potential costs and benefits can prove crucial to your bottom line. Written by a well-known warranty authority, James R. Brennan's "Warranties: Planning, Analysis, and Implementation" demonstrates how to develop and negotiate credible, mutually-beneficial warranties to satisfy today's commercial and government customers alike. Establishing the criteria for a good warranty, it draws on real-world case examples to illustrate basic warranty: principles; risks; requirements; tradeoffs; costing; negotiating; administration; planning/management; and more.

Product Liability and Innovation: Managing Risk in an Uncertain Environment

Steering Committee on Product Liability and Innovation, National Academy of Engineering

List Price: $37.95 By: National Academies Press Amazon Marketplace: 14 new & used starting at $0.50

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Management & Leadership -> Total Quality Management
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Management & Leadership -> Risk Assessment

Editorial Review:

Product liability is a contentious issue. Proponents argue that American tort law promotes product safety. Manufacturers contend that lawsuits chill new product development. "Product Liability and Innovation" provides an overview and an engineering perspective on the product liability system. The volume offers studies of selected industries, exploring the effect of product liability on corporate product development decisions and on the creative opportunities and day-to-day work of engineers. The volume addresses the potential liability of the parts or materials supplier and discusses the impact of liability on the availability of insurance. It looks at "junk science" in the courtroom and analyzes opportunities to incorporate into product design what we know about human behavior and risk. The book also looks at current efforts at tort reform and compares U.S. injury claims handling with that of other countries. This volume will be important to policymakers, industrialists, attorneys, product engineers, and individuals concerned about the impact of product liability on the industrial future.

Asset protection guidebook for attorneys, financial planners & accountants

Jay W Mitton

By: National Seminars and Education Institute Amazon Marketplace: 2 new & used starting at $47.95

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Subjects -> Law -> Business -> Product Liability

Fundamentals of Product Liability Law for Engineers

Linda Enghagen

List Price: $39.95 By: Industrial Press, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $6.63

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Subjects -> Law -> Business -> Torts
Subjects -> Law -> English Law -> Commercial

Editorial Review:

Product liability law suits yield more million-dollar-plus judgments than any other class of personal injury law suits. This book provides practicing engineers, technical managers, and engineering students with a basic understanding of the rules of substantive law governing product liability litigation. It offers insight into the theories of law that are used and explains the process involved in proving a lawsuit in a court of law.

Corporate Victimization Of Women

List Price: $50.00 By: Northeastern Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $11.15

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Business Life -> Ethics
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> General AAS

Editorial Review:

Women are disproportionately victimized by corporations that knowingly violate their physical, psychological, legal, and economic rights for power and profit. This book proposes a theoretical framework for the study of corporate victimization of women and presents essays by experts in law, economics, and criminology that address injuries and discrimination sustained by women in the labor market and as consumers. Drawing on feminist theory, victimization research, and white-collar crime theory, the volume analyzes issues ranging from the Dalkon Shield to exclusionary policies in the workplace, and discusses avenues through which women may achieve redress.