d proximate causation. Moreover, a jury would be asked to determine if a duty had been violated or if the harm in question had been proximately caused by the defendants only after the court had determined as a matter of law either that defendants did have a duty to safeguard plaintiff from the risk of these bombs or that the defendants' supplying the terrorists with a component of these bombs was a legal proximate cause of plaintiff's damages. Because the District Court found as a matter of law that there was no duty and no proximate causation, there was nothing for a jury to consider.

E. Duty

22
The District Court properly concluded that the Amended Complaint failed to establish the existence of a duty owed by defendants. Under both New Jersey and New York law, the question of whether a duty is owed is a question of law to be decided by the court. Strachan v. John F. Kennedy Mem'l Hosp., 538 A.2d 346, 349 (N.J. 1988) ("The question of whether a duty exists is a matter of law properly decided by the court. . . ."); Purdy v. Public Adm'r , 526 N.E.2d 4, 6 (N.Y. 1988) ("The question of whether a member or group of society owes a duty of care to reasonably avoid injury to another is of course a question of law for the courts.").


23
Under the law of either jurisdiction, it is appropriate for us to focus on product liability principles in determining if defendants did owe plaintiff a duty. Under New Jersey law negligence is no longer viable as a separate claim for harm caused by a defective product. Oquendo v. Bettcher Indus., Inc., 939 F. Supp. 357, 361 (D.N.J. 1996) (citing Tirrell v. Navistar Int'l, Inc., 591 A.2d 643 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1991)). Even though plaintiff alleges a negligence claim in Count I, this count is based solely on harm caused by defendants' allegedly defective products. It therefore falls within the New Jersey Product Liability Act (the "NJPLA"), N.J.S.A. 2A:58C-1 et seq., which is "the sole basis of relief under New Jersey law available to consumers injured by a defective product." 