United States Fifth Circuit

In a suit for breach of contract, breach of implied warranties, and fraud arising from an allegedly problematic retrofit to plaintiff's water treatment plant, a judgment after a jury trial for defendants is vacated where: 1) the district court erred in excluding evidence of fires at other facilities on the basis of Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b); 2) the district court erroneously excluded, under Federal Rule of Evidence 407, evidence of defendant's documents showing its investigations of and recognition of component problems; and 3) the excluded evidence could not be barred on other grounds.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/06/2006
• Published 11/07/2006

Judges

• JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge:, Before SMITH and STEWART, Circuit Judges, and HANEN, District Judge.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Danny S. Ashby (argued), Mark Keith Sales, James Anthony Baker, Bart Sloan, Hughes & Luce, Dallas, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellant., J. David Rowe, DuBois, Bryant, Campbell & Schwartz, Austin, TX, Anne M. Johnson (argued), Haynes & Boone, Dallas, TX, Leslie A. Palmer, Jr., Haley & Davis, Waco, TX, Charles William Shipman, Haynes & Boone, San Antonio, TX, Kenneth H. Laborde, Gieger, Laborde & Laperouse, New Orleans, LA, for GE Ionics, Inc., W. Lee Kohler (argued), Dallas, TX, Fred Morris Johnson, Jr., Pakis, Giotes, Page & Burleson, Waco, TX, for Cajun Constructors, Inc.