Useful collections of links
LexisOne (http://www.lexisone.com) LexisOne has numerous good links under the "Personal Injury & Tort Law" section of its website.
Findlaw (http://www.findlaw.com) Findlaw (now owned by West) has a section dedicated to "Injury & Tort Law."
Finding information about products
United States Patent and Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov) has searchable databases for both patent and trademark registrations.
Consumer Product Safety Commission (http://cpsc.gov) has broad range of information about consumer products, such as recalls, statistics and relevant law.
Ebay (http://www.ebay.com)
Food and Drug Administration (http://www.fda.gov) has information about drugs and medical procedures.
Experts and verdicts
ExpertPages.Com (http://www.expertpages.com) has an extensive directory of expert witnesses and consultants.
VerdictSearch (http://www.verdictsearch.com/)
LexisOne (http://www.lexisone.com/) LexisOne has a good collection of links to expert websites.
MoreLaw.com(http://www.morelaw.com) is a free jury verdict website. It provides brief information on cases, as well as listings for attorneys and expert witnesses.
Organizations
American Bar Association, Section on Tort and Insurance Practice (http://www.abanet.org/tips/home.html) announces CLE programs, sells ABA publications, and organizes listservs, one of which is exclusively for practitioners of products liability and consumer law.
Association of Trial Lawyers of America (http://www.atlanet.org) is almost entirely limited to members, but membership entitles one to the ATLA Exchange which provides names of members who have handled similar cases, as well as to a database of documents, experts, verdicts and settlements. It also has numerous practice specific sections and groups, devoted to sharing litigation information, trial strategies and case information.
Texas Trial Lawyers Association (http://www.ttla.com) provides recent articles and opinions, but makes most of the more helpful components (eg. CLE papers, discussion groups) available to members only.
Rand Institue for Civil Justice (http://www.rand.org/icj) does research on many topics, including the justice system. A recent report focuses on class action reform.
National Conference Of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, Model Punitive Damages Act (http://www.law.upenn.edu/bll/ulc/ulc.htm). The drafts of all uniform and model acts are included on this site.
Class action resources
Class Action and Complex Litigation Information http://www.classactionlitigation.com/ is the work of attorney Timothy Eble, who specializes in mass tort and product liability. It explains the class action process, lists current actions, includes the full text of numerous articles, provides links to consumer and governmental organizations, and tracks legislation.
Information centers
Federal Consumer Information Center (http://pueblo.gsa.gov/) is geared to the public, but includes news and information on major product problems.
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (http://www.hwysafety.org) provides reports on accident causes. It is an independent organization funded by auto insurers.
Tobacco Control Resource Center (http://www.tobacco.neu.edu) tracks state tobacco litigation. It is sponsored by Northeastern University School of Law.
Specific actions
Tobacco Control Resource Center & Tobacco Products Liability Project (http://www.tobacco.neu.edu/) is a project of the Northeastern University School of Law. Good resource for keeping track of recent cases.
Sulzer Hip Implant litigation (http://www.sulzerimplantsettlement.com/) Law firm site dedicated to the Sulzer hip implant litigation.
Understanding Lead Pigment Litigation (http://www.leadlawsuits.com/) Industry website explaining the legal issues involved with lead paint lawsuits.
Medical literature and news searching
Medline (www.pubmed.gov) Entrez PubMed (commonly called PubMed) provides access to over 11 million citations and abstracts from biomedical literature. If the publisher has a web site that offers full-text of its journals, PubMed provides links to that site, as well as, biological databases, consumer health information, research tools, and more. There may be a charge to access the text or information. Entrez is the search system which integrates information from the National Center for Biotechnology Information databases including Medline. Be sure to utilize tools like NLM’s MeSH browser to convert common words to medical subject headings or Journal Browser to untangle journal abbreviations.
MEDLINEplus (www.pubmed.gov) MEDLINEplus contains extensive, authoritative and up to date information from the National Institutes of Health and other trusted sources on over 500 diseases and conditions. Along with lists of hospitals and physicians, MEDLINEplus provides a medical encyclopedia, dictionaries, health information in Spanish, extensive information on prescription and nonprescription drugs, health news from the media, and links to thousands of clinical trials. MEDLINEplus is a service of the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.
Free Medical Journals (http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/ej.html) From the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences at the University of Iowa, a selected list of free full-text online electronic medical journals, with an emphasis on journals that are included in PubMed Medline and have current issues. Also visit the Hardin Meta Directory of Internet Health Sources (http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/ej.html ).
National Guideline Clearinghouse (www.guidelines.gov) Provides objective, detailed information on evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. “Guidelines are not entirely inclusive or exclusive of all methods of reasonable care that can obtain/produce the same results” but they can illustrate standards of care. Produced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in partnership with the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Association of Health Plans (AAHP).
PharmaLexicon (http://pharma-lexicon.com) A commercial database source for definitions of 56,000 medical & pharmaceutical acronyms and abbreviations.
Law librarian links
LLRX (http://www.llrx.com/)
BeSpacific (http://www.bespacific.com/)
VirtualChase (http://www.virtualchase.com/)
B. Legal megasites
All-purpose legal information sites may be useful when you are having difficulty tracking down a particular source. Three of the best are:
Cornell Legal Information Institute (http://www.law.cornell.edu) is an excellent source for both primary and secondary legal materials. There are many different ways to access the materials, but the easiest way for the novice researcher to find a topic is to click on "Law about . . ." to get a list of areas of law, including "accident and injury compensation and prevention". A helpful feature of the Cornell site is the one page overview outlining the sources of tort or products liability law and how they interrelate. Framed next to the overview is a "Menu of Sources" that includes relevant sections of Title 15 of the United States Code and links to recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal on products liability. It also includes links to other consumer-related organizations on the internet.
Hieros Gamos: The Comprehensive Law and Government Portal (http://www.hg.org) includes an extensive section on Tort Law that is fairly comprehensive and even includes links to international and foreign law. Categories of materials linked include: case law, regulations, agencies and programs, state law (alphabetical by state), and a number of discussion groups.
Findlaw(http://www.findlaw.com) is a "one stop shopping" site for law. Provides links to primary and secondary sources of law in addition to links to other websites. The Injury and Tort Law page (http://www.findlaw.com/01topics/22tort/index.html) includes overviews of specific subjects, and articles submitted by law firms, consultants, government agencies, and several legal publishers. It also includes an extensive collection of statistical databases on accident reporting.
C. Federal law: primary sources
Federal Legislative
United States Code:
http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml
Magnuson - Moss Warranty Act (Consumer Product Warranties), 15 U.S.C. §§ 2301 et seq.: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/15/ch50.html
Pending Federal Legislation: http://thomas.loc.gov/
Federal Judicial
United States Supreme Court Opinions (1990-present) : http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct ; (1893-present): http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/Supreme.html
United States Federal Court Finder - http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDCTS/
Fifth Circuit - http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/
Federal Judiciary Links - http://www.uscourts.gov/links.html
PACER: Electronic access to U.S. District, Bankruptcy, and Appellate court docket records. Fee for use. http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/
Federal Administrative
Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) - http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/index.html
Federal Register -
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html
Texas Legislative
Texas statutes - http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/statutes.html
Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Ch. 82 - http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/cvtoc.html
Pending Texas Legislation -http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/
Texas Judicial
Texas Supreme Court - http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/
Courts of Appeals -
http://www.courts.state.tx.us/appcourt.asp
Third Court of Appeals - http://www.3rdcoa.courts.state.tx.us/
Texas Administrative Materials
Texas Administrative Code - http://www.sos.state.tx.us/tac/
Texas Register - http://www.sos.state.tx.us/texreg/index.html
Attorney General Opinions - http://www.oag.state.tx.us
E. Commercial database providers
The two best-known legal database providers have special materials for products liability law attorneys:
Lexis-Nexis (fee-based) http://www.lexis.com . The Tort library contains a comprehensive collection of primary and secondary materials that includes case law, jury verdict and settlement information, and specialty looseleaf reporters.
Westlaw (fee-based) http://www.westlaw.com. The Products Liability practice area materials include federal and state case and administrative law, jury verdict resources, directories, and relevant journals and periodicals.
Both Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw permit stored searches to be set up, which provide periodic updates (or clipping service) for the researcher who wants to keep up with a particular topic or area of law.
Two new database providers are trying to provide alternatives for online legal research and to compete for subscribers who might not be able to afford Lexis and Westlaw. Both providers are worth watching as they add libraries and offer a lower-cost alternative for legal research
Loislaw http://www.loislaw.com/At the present time, Loislaw consists of appellate level court opinions, regulations and statutes from the federal government and all 50 states. Loislaw has GlobalCite, which is similar to a citator, but without treatment codes. LOIS also offers a "clipping" service and LOIS NewsFeeds. Ten day free trial is available. Register online.
Versuslaw http://www.versuslaw.com/ Versuslaw has only court opinions and a few other publications at present, but it is an extremely low cost alternative.
A. Federal Torts Claims
Handling Federal Tort Claims: Administrative and Judicial Remedies. Lester S. Jayson. Matthew Bender Co (1964), updated annually.
B. Products liability
BNA Product Safety & Liability
A looseleaf service that is an excellent resource for keeping current on developments in the field.
CCH Products Liability Reporter
Another good current awareness looseleaf service in the field of products liability.American Law of Products Liability, 3d edition
Multi-volume treatise published by Westgroup. The most comprehensive print resource on products liability law.Madden & Owen on Products Liability
A three-volume treatise on products liability, published by WestGroup.Restatment of the Law, Torts: Product Liability
The American Law Institute's restatement, adopted in May, 1997
C. Personal injury practice
How to Build and Manage a Personal Injury Practice. K. William Gibson. ABA Section of Law Practice Management (1997).
Causes of Action, 2d. Published by WestGroup. Large set dedicated to presenting sample discovery, interrogatories, etc. that can be used in a wide variety of cases, including personal injury cases.
D. Texas personal injury
Texas Practice Guide. Personal Injury. 2nd ed. Joe B. Brown, Jack Hebdon, and C.L. Mike Schmidt. Westgroup (1999), updated annually.
Texas Personal Injury Handbook. Nick Roberts. Lexis Law Publishing (2000).
E. Torts
Texas Torts Update. Montly newsletter from Matthew Bender & Co. Case summaries and current awareness.
The Law of Torts. Dan B. Dobbs. WestGroup (2001). Two-volume treatise on U.S. tort law.
The Law of Torts, 2d ed. Harper V. Fowler. Six-volume treatise on U.S. tort law.
Bibliography created by Tobe Liebert. Updated September 14, 2005.