Joe Lieberman: “I did not always support a national approach to product liability reform and I can well understand the hesitancy…”

“I did not always support a national approach to product liability reform and I can well understand the hesitancy, particularly of newer Members, to support Federal involvement in what traditionally has been the province of state law. In fact, as attorney general of Connecticut and a member of the National Association of Attorneys General, I voted for resolutions opposing earlier Federal product liability legislation that would have swept away virtually all State product liability laws and repealed the doctrine of strict liability for product defects. But as I traveled around the State of Connecticut, this problem-- product liability litigation--kept coming up in my discussions with small business men and women, with small and large manufacturing companies, and with plant managers. They told me of problems they had experienced with the product liability system, of the expense of defending yourself even when you win, of the cost of settlements to avoid paying litigation costs, and of the time and energy that product liability suits diverted away from the business of designing new products and bringing them to market. At a time when we need to be rebuilding our country's manufacturing base, to be promoting innovation in our manufacturing sector, to be designing, building, and bringing to market the next generation of high-quality, high-value added products the world will need, our liability system chills innovation.”