Boatland of Houston, Inc. v. Bailey

Samuel Bailey was killed by his boat's propeller after being thrown from the wheel and the motor continued running and circled back on him. His family (plaintiffs) sued the boat's manufacturer, Boatland (defendant), on a strict-liability theory, arguing the boat should have had a kill switch to shut off the motor when the driver was thrown off; they showed kill switches were used on racing boats at the time and that Boatland itself later began installing them on bass boats. Boatland countered that kill switches were not used on bass boats when this boat was built. The jury found for Boatland, but the court of civil appeals reversed, reasoning state-of-the-art evidence was relevant only to a manufacturer's conduct and not to a strict-liability claim. Boatland appealed.