No-Fault: A Perspective

Authors

Leon Green

Abstract

At the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, December 27, 1974, the Torts Section sponsored a panel discussion of Professor Jeffrey O'Connell's proposal that no-fault insurance be expanded beyond the field of automobile accidents. The proposal, as presented in O'Connell, Expanding No-Fault Beyond Auto Insurance: Some Proposals, 59 VA. L. REV. 749 (1973), advocates "enterprise liability" for any entity or person that systematically creates risks of personal injury. It would be "no-fault" liability, blind to the fault of either party, and paid by the enterprise's insurer or by the enterprise as a self-insurer. Payments would be limited to out-of-pocket losses not compensated from collateral sources, and no recovery would be allowed for pain and suffering. The plaintiff would have the option of asserting his claim either under regular tort liability or under enterprise liability, unless the defendant elects in advance to be covered exclusively by enterprise liability. Enterprise liability would not apply to injuries intentionally caused by the enterprise or intentionally inflicted by the victim upon himself. The following is Professor Green's response to the O'Connell proposal. These remarks were delivered in acknowledgement of the William Lloyd Prosser Award "for outstanding contribution to the development of the law of torts" presented to Professor Green at the meeting.

Rights

© 1975 J. Reuben Clark Law School

Recommended Citation

Leon Green, No-Fault: A Perspective, 1975 BYU L. Rev. 79 (1975).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/lawreview/vol1975/iss1/4