제조물책임에 관한 최근 대법원 판례와 시사점

Abstract

The product liability law was recognized through case law even before the introduction of the product liability law. The purpose of the product liability law and the product liability law is to protect victims by easing the burden of proof on the victim's side through the estimation of the causal relationship between defects, defects and damages in the product. Although 20 years have passed since the product liability law took effect, there do not seem to be many judgments that applied this law than originally expected. On the other hand, the environment surrounding the product liability law is changing day by day due to the development of science and technology. The role of the product liability law is also becoming increasingly important to protect product consumers in line with the rapidly changing environment. In this situation, the Supreme Court's rulings on product liability for the past 10 years were examined, and the meaning and implications of the ruling were analyzed. Although there are not many Supreme Court rulings on product liability itself, it was confirmed that the scope is wide, from rulings examining the relationship between the Product Liability Act and the Civil Act as a premise for the application of the Product Liability Act to precedents on the requirements for establishing product liability. Specifically, it was examined that the Product Liability Act is a special law of civil law, and it is reasonable to apply it in preference to civil law in related cases. In addition, the Product Liability Act has the nature of no-fault liability in principle, but in the case of labeling defects or design defects, it has an element of negligence liability, so the problem of the victim's excessive burden of proof was reviewed, and it was also confirmed that to improve this, it is necessary to examine it in connection with estimated regulations such as defects. The current Product Liability Act has estimated regulations between defects in products and causal relationships, which are advantageous in protecting victims based on existing case law, but there is still room for it to be considered insufficient to achieve the legislative purpose of the Product Liability Act. To improve this, it is possible to consider strengthening sanctions on violations such as documents submission orders under the Civil Procedure Act or revising presumptive regulations such as defects to make it easier for victims to access evidence. However, each of these measures can affect the Civil Procedure Act as a whole, so careful review should be preceded.