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Criminalizing Product Liability Claims? An Idea from Across the Pond

By William Hoffman and Rebecca Grunfeld Hamilton

On July 26, 2007, the Queen of England gave royal assent to the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act of 2007. This statute alters the standards by which companies, including foreign companies, can be prosecuted when the goods and services they provide contribute to the death of an individual. The avowed purpose of the new law is to 'make[ ] it easier to convict culpable' companies. Gary Slapper, Corporate Manslaughter Law Is Vast Improvement, Times Online (London), July 18, 2007, http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article2097907.ece ('Slapper Article'). See also U.K. Ministry of Justice, A Guide to the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 3, (Oct. 2007), available at www.nio.gov.uk/guide_to_the_cmch_act_2007_web.pdf_oct_07-3.pdf (explaining that '[t]he new offence allows an organisation's liability to be assessed on a wider basis … ') ('Ministry of Justice Guide').

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act of 2007 is yet another example of a worldwide trend toward criminalizing the law of product liability. While the idea of establishing criminal corporate manslaughter has been discussed in the United States, it has not gained much momentum. The recent reform in the United Kingdom, however, may rekindle the efforts to criminalize product liability, especially during the course of this election year.

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