The Irresistible Simplicity of Preventing Harm

Abstract In Loomis v. Amazon.com, the California Court of Appeal confronts the most pressing products liability issue of our time: the extent to which an online marketplace is liable for injuries caused by defective products sold on its platform. In a trailblazing concurrence destined to enter the torts canon, Justice John Wiley highlights Amazon’s ability to influence the safety of the products it makes available for sale, and uses the case to remind us that the “deep structure of modern tort law” is built to “minimize the social costs of accidents.” Similarly, Justice Wiley cuts a clear path through the thicket of the economic loss rule, institutional (or vicarious) liability and punitive damages cases by following the torts lodestar: the irresistible simplicity of preventing harm.