Supreme Court of Texas

In a products liability action against Whirlpool Corporation, judgment of the court of appeals' that a design defect in an electric Whirlpool clothes dryer caused a fatal fire is reversed as the expert testimony of design defect is legally insufficient to support the verdict.

Appellate Information

• Argued 03/10/2009
• Decided 12/11/2009
• Published 12/11/2009

Judges

• Justice JOHNSON delivered the opinion of the Court.

Court

• Supreme Court of Texas

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Lynne Liberato, Alene Ross Levy, Mark Ryan Trachtenberg, Haynes and Boone, LLP, Juan Noe Garza Jr., Abraham Watkins Nichols Sorrels & Friend, Houston, Keith N. Uhles, Royston Rayzor Vickery & Williams, L.L.P., Brownsville, Douglas K. Dieterly, Peter J. Rusthoven, Barnes & Thornburg, South Bend, IN, for Petitioner., Joseph G. Petrosinelli, Williams & Connolly, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae General Electric Co., Lauren L. Beck-Harris, Johnson Spalding Doyle West & Trent, L.L.P., Houston, for Amicus Curiae Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc.


• For Appellees:
  
• Kevin H. DuBose, Robert B. DuBose, Alexander Dubose & Townsend LLP, Houston, Joe Escobedo Jr., John L. Tippit III, Escobedo, Tippit & Cardenas, L.L.P., Luis M. Cardenas, Albert A. ‘Beto’ Munoz II, Law Office of Alberto A. Munoz, II, David H. Hockema, Hockema & Longoria, Mauro Fernando Ruiz, Hockema, Tippit & Escobedo, L.L.P., McAllen, Cesar Ricardo Perez, Watts Law Firm, Aaron Ian Vela, The Buzbee Law Firm, Edinburg, for Respondents.