Ewa Bagińska

Bernhard A. Koch

Liability law is rapidly changing in quite a number of countries. This is due to various factors, which are interrelated to a large extent: changing case law and legislation as well as increased and still increasing technical and medical knowledge. As a result, various occupational diseases can, for example, be attributed to working conditions or personal injury to specific products. From the very moment that causation can be proven, the question arises of whether or not liability can be established‑ with far-reaching economic consequences for all parties involved. The rise of phenomena such as mass torts, multiple causation, joint and several liability or various heads of damages (like ecological damage and several diseases and affections) rapidly increases the interest in tort law. In the context of the interrelation between liability and insurance, attention must be paid to the question of whether certain liabilities are still coverable or not, and, if they are, to what amounts. (The question of jurisdictions is of growing importance as is the question of whether a specific liability can be covered by insurance. In this context, one should bear in mind that the affordability of tort law also requires safe and sound insurers. The recent past has shown that there is a limit to their financial stability.)

A Comparison of Selected Jurisdictions

Medical Liability in Europe

Ernst Karner

Christiane Wendehorst

Mark A. Geistfeld

Initiated by the European Commission, the first study published in this volume analyses the largely unresolved question as to how damage caused by artificial intelligence (AI) systems is allocated by the rules of tortious liability currently in force in the Member States of the European Union and in the United States, to examine whether - and if so, to what extent - national tort law regimes differ in that respect, and to identify possible gaps in the protection of injured parties. The second study offers guiding principles for safety and liability with regard to software, testing how the existing acquis needs to be adjusted in order to adequately cope with the risks posed by software and AI. The annex contains the final report of the New Technologies Formation of the Expert Group on Liability and New Technologies, assessing the extent to which existing liability schemes are adapted to the emerging market realities following the development of new digital technologies.

Civil Liability for Artificial Intelligence and Software

Reinhard Zimmermann

Helmut Koziol

Bénédict Winiger

In order to contribute to a better understanding of natural causation, which is a central concept in civil law, the present book offers a large collection of leading cases from 25 European countries and from the Court of Justice of the European Community. Each case is shortly summarised and commented on. Further, an important number of cases collected are resolved according to the recently published ‘Principles of European Tort Law’.

Essential Cases on Natural Causation

Benedict Winiger

With an emerging ius commune in the field of tort law, the extensive range of experiences derived from national court practice on the basis of prior laws will in certain respects be of comparatively less importance. A major lacuna is thus apparent: While publications of court decisions and databases exist, none provide access to a comparative selection of recurring issues in the various European legal systems. Along the lines of the previous Digest project on Causation, this study covers another key element of tort law – damage. The publication contains a systematic selection of cases from 27 countries across Europe in addition to ECJ case-law, with each case benefiting from an analysis and commentary from a national and, where appropriate, a comparative perspective. Further, the impact of these rulings on a future European law of torts is highlighted. Finally, the publication also looks into how key cases would be resolved under unified European tort law drafts. The object of the study is thus to bridge domestic case-law with the new body of uniform tort law thus facilitating the continuity of legal development in Europe.

Essential Cases on Damage

The debate about the use of genetically modified organisms is fuelled by the fear of potential hazards of GM farming. Classic tort law already offers remedies should such risks materialize. In some countries, this is enhanced or replaced by alternative redress schemes. This volume compares more than twenty jurisdictions in this respect, provides special analyses from an economic and insurance perspective and also addresses cross-border problems and international law.

Comparative Survey of Redress Options for Harm to Persons, Property, Or the Environment

Damage Caused by Genetically Modified Organisms

Ten years after the first study published in this field by the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law, liability for medical malpractice is still a hot topic throughout Europe and it continues to expand and develop. In order to provide an update on the current situation across European legal systems, this book includes fourteen country reports authored by renowned experts from each legal system. In addition to providing a theoretical survey of key issues, each contributor also analyzed six hypotheticals based on actual cases, thereby also providing practical guidance on major aspects of liability claims. A concluding comparative analysis highlights commonalities and differences in the liability rules employed, dispute resolution procedures and the insurance background.

Michael D. Green

Israel Gilead

Causal uncertainty is a wide-spread phenomenon. Courts are often unable to determine whether a defendant’s tortious conduct was a factual cause of a plaintiff’s harm. Yet, sometimes courts can determine the probability that the defendant caused the plaintiff’s harm, although often there is considerable variance in the probability estimate based on the available evidence. The conventional way to cope with this uncertainty has been to apply the evidentiary rule of ‘standard of proof’. The application of this ‘all or nothing’ rule can lead to unfairness by absolving defendants who acted tortiously and may also create undesirable incentives that result in greater wrongful conduct and injustice to victims. Some courts have decided that this ‘no-liability’ outcome is undesirable. They have adopted rules of proportional liability that compensate plaintiffs according to the probability that their harm was caused by the defendant’s tortious conduct. In 2005 the Principles of European Tort Law (PETL) made a breakthrough in this regard by embracing rules of proportional liability. This project, building on PETL, endeavours to make further inquiries into the desirable scope of proportional liability and to offer a more detailed view of its meaning, implications, and ramifications.

Bernhard A. Koch

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