Opinion ID: 1432329
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: identification of culpable defendant

Text: Traditional products liability theory has always required a reasonable connection between the injured plaintiff, the injury-causing product, and the manufacturer of the injury-causing product. An essential element of the plaintiff's cause of action for negligence, or for that matter for any other tort, is that there be some reasonable connection between the act or omission of the defendant and the damage which the plaintiff has suffered. W. Prosser, Torts § 41, at 236 (4th ed. 1971) (hereinafter cited as Prosser). The majority of the courts in DES litigation have followed the traditional approach, finding no cause of action when the plaintiff cannot identify the particular manufacturer of the pills which caused her injury. See Gray v. United States, 445 F. Supp. 337 (S.D. Tex. 1978); Namm v. Charles E. Frosst & Co., 178 N.J. Super. 19, 427 A.2d 1121 (1981); Ryan v. Eli Lilly & Co., 514 F. Supp. 1004 (D.S.C. 1981); Mizell v. Eli Lilly & Co., 526 F. Supp. 589 (D.S.C. 1981); Morton v. Abbott Labs., 538 F. Supp. 593 (M.D. Fla. 1982); Pipon v. Burroughs-Wellcome Co., 532 F. Supp. 637 (D.N.J. 1982); Tidler v. Eli Lilly & Co., 95 F.R.D. 332 (D.D.C. 1982); Payton v. Abbott Labs, 386 Mass. 540, 437 N.E.2d 171 (1982). Notwithstanding this general rule, four theories have been proposed, and in some cases adopted, to give DES plaintiffs a cause of action. These theories are (1) alternate liability, (2) concerted action, (3) enterprise liability, and (4) market-share liability. See generally Note, Market Share Liability: An Answer to the DES Causation Problem, 94 Harv. L. Rev. 668 (1981).