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Products Liability Keyed Owen, 8th Ed.
Boatland of Houston, Inc. v. Bailey
Citation:
609 S.W.2d 743 (1980)Facts
In May 1973, Samuel Bailey was killed in a boating accident while operating a 16-foot bass boat sold by Boatland of Houston. The boat struck a partially submerged tree stump, throwing Bailey into the water. With its motor still running, the boat turned sharply and circled back, and Bailey was killed by the propeller. His widow and adult children sued Boatland under a strict liability theory, alleging the boat was defectively designed because it lacked safety features, particularly an automatic kill switch that would have shut off the motor when Bailey was thrown from the boat. At trial, the plaintiffs presented evidence that kill switches were feasible at the time of sale, while Boatland presented evidence that such devices were not commercially available for bass boats in March 1973 when the boat was sold. The jury found that the boat was not defectively designed.
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