The American Museum of Tort Law is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

developed by

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the Un ...

, located in his hometown of Winsted, Connecticut. The museum focuses on topics of civil justice and "aspects of the legal system that handle wrongful actions that result in injury". The museum opened to the public in September 2015. It is the first law museum in the United States.

Exhibits

The museum offers displays regarding the evolution of tort law, precedent setting cases, and cases that made a difference. Eisterhold Associates designed the museum's exhibits. That firm also lent its efforts to a number of museums across the nation, including the

National Civil Rights Museum The National Civil Rights Museum is a complex of museums and historic buildings in Memphis, Tennessee; its exhibits trace the history of the civil rights movement in the United States from the 17th century to the present. The museum is built aro ...

in Memphis, Tennessee, and the Jurassic Park Discovery Center at

Universal's Islands of Adventure Universal's Islands of Adventure (also known as Islands of Adventure or IOA), originally called Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. It opened on May 28, 1999, along with CityWalk, as part of an ...

in Orlando, Florida. The main exhibit at the museum is a cherry red 1963

Chevrolet Corvair The Chevrolet Corvair is a compact car manufactured by Chevrolet for model years 1960–1969 in two generations. A response to the Volkswagen Beetle, it remains the only American-designed, mass-produced passenger car with a Rear-engine design, ...

. Other exhibits which display information about historic personal injury cases which set precedents for

tort law A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishab ...

are on display as well.

History

Originally announced in 1998, at an expected cost of $5million or $10million, Nader sought a way to turn abstract legal cases, on which he has spent significant time working, into interesting displays for the public. The museum planned to include exhibitions on some famous cases including McDonald's' scalding coffee,

flammable A combustible material is something that can burn (i.e., ''combust'') in air. A combustible material is flammable if it ignites easily at ambient temperatures. In other words, a combustible material ignites with some effort and a flammable mat ...

pajamas Pajamas ( US) or pyjamas (Commonwealth) (), sometimes colloquially shortened to PJs, jammies, jam-jams, or in South Asia night suits, are several related types of clothing worn as nightwear or while lounging or performing remote work from hom ...

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

breast implants A breast implant is a prosthesis used to change the size, shape, and contour of a person's breast. In reconstructive plastic surgery, breast implants can be placed to restore a natural looking breast following a mastectomy, to correct congenita ...

medical malpractice Medical malpractice is a legal cause of action that occurs when a medical or health care professional, through a negligent act or omission, deviates from standards in their profession, thereby causing injury or death to a patient. The neglige ...

, the pollution of

Love Canal Love Canal is a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, United States, infamous as the location of a landfill that became the site of an enormous environmental disaster in the 1970s. Decades of dumping toxic chemicals harmed the health of hund ...

, and a

Ford Pinto The Ford Pinto is a subcompact car that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company in North America from 1971 until 1980 model years. The Pinto was the first subcompact vehicle produced by Ford in North America. The Pinto was marketed ...

with the exploding gas tank. Nader later removed plans to include the Pinto and instead settled for documentation of the '' Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Company'' lawsuit. Apart from the Corvair and the Ford lawsuit, exhibits about dangerous toys, toxic tobacco, and McDonald's scalding coffee cups were on display when the museum opened as well. The museum's concept faced criticism from a number of sources, including questions on whether it would attract an audience outside of legal scholars and whether it would be anything more than Nader's tribute to himself. It was anticipated that the museum would open in late 2006 following eight years of planning and at a cost of more than $4million. By 2006, Nader had raised more than half the funds necessary, despite some funders leaving the project, and the plans to use a former factory on Winsted's Main Street had been approved by the town. In 2013, it was reported that Ralph Nader had purchased the former Winsted Savings Bank building at . This building was approved by the Winsted Zoning Commission as the new site for the proposed museum. Building renovation and interior construction began in July 2014 and was completed in July 2015. In June 2015, the museum hired Richard Newman as its first head. Newman is the co-author of the standard treatise on Connecticut Law of Torts and served as president of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association from 2004 to 2005.

References

External links

* Law museums in the United States Museums in Litchfield County, Connecticut Ralph Nader Tort law Winchester, Connecticut 2015 establishments in Connecticut Museums established in 2015 {{Connecticut-museum-stub