affirming summary judgment where steering system unavailable for inspection and although affidavits 'stated that no one known to have access to vehicle tampered with steering system, affidavits did not negate other possible causes of accident including slick roads or normal wear and tear
How later courts described this case
- affirming summary judgment where steering system unavailable for inspection and although affidavits 'stated that no one known to have access to vehicle tampered with steering system, affidavits did not negate other possible causes of accident including slick roads or normal wear and tear
- determining that plaintiff failed to negate other possible causes such as road conditions, speed, or driver operation of vehicle
- “The possibility that the product may have been defective is not enough. The proponent of a products liability claim must produce evidence from which the trier of fact may reasonably conclude that it is more probable than not that the injury resulted from a defective product.”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
Steele Hays, Justice, dissenting. I fail to see how we can sustain a summary dismissal of appellants’ cause of action when interrogatories to the appellees have not been answered. Whether the interrogatories would succeed in producing probative evidence can ’ t be j udged in the absence of responses and the appellants were entitled to have the benefit of that information before their claims are dismissed.