Market-Share Liability
Definition
Holds all manufacturers of a product identical to the one that harmed the plaintiff liable in shares proportional to their share of the market at the time the plaintiff’s injury occurred. Market-share liability is appropriate if the following factors are present: (1) all the named defendants are potential tortfeasors; (2) the allegedly harmful products are identical and share the same defective qualities, i.e., are fungible; (3) the plaintiff is unable to identify which defendant caused her injury through no fault of her own; and (4) substantially all of the manufacturers that created the defective products during the relevant time are named as defendants.