Benjamin L. Cavataro

• Biography

  Benjamin L. Cavataro is an expert on torts, consumer law, administrative law, and regulation, with a particular focus on products liability and safety law. He is a leading scholar of product recalls, consumer protection, corporate safety compliance and noncompliance, and enforcement of safety law by federal agencies (such as CPSC, NHTSA, and DOJ) and state regulators. His published and forthcoming work, which has appeared in the George Washington Law Review, Emory Law Journal, and Utah Law Review, has explored varied topics, ranging from safety whistleblowing to decisionmaking dynamics at multimember agencies.

  Before joining Wayne Law in 2024, Cavataro served as visiting assistant professor at Villanova University School of Law. Prior to his academic career, he practiced law for six years in Washington, D.C., at Covington & Burling LLP, where he was special counsel, and clerked on the Vermont Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He earned his J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, and completed his undergraduate work at the University of Florida.

• Degrees and Certifications

  J.D., University of Michigan Law School, magna cum laude and Order of the Coif
  B.A., Anderson Scholar of High Distinction, University of Florida, cum laude
  Admitted to the bar in Florida and the District of Columbia

• Courses Taught

  Torts
  Products Liability and Safety
  Administrative Law
   

• Selected publications

  America’s Failed Safety Whistleblower Program, 74 EMORY L.J. __ (forthcoming 2025)

  Regulating Guns as Products, 92 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 87 (2024)

  Interstate Groundwater Law in the Snake Valley: Equitable Apportionment and a New Model for Transboundary Aquifer Management, 2013 UTAH L. REV. 1553 (with Noah Hall)
   

• Social Science Research Network
  View SSRN Profile
• Recent courses taught

  Winter Term 2025 (future)

  • LEX8284 - Products Liablty Smr