Booth v. Black & Decker, Inc.

A fire damaged Jacob Booth's (plaintiff) house; the fire marshal concluded Booth's microwave caused it. Booth nonetheless sued Black & Decker (defendant), the manufacturer of his toaster oven, claiming the toaster oven was the real cause, relying on expert Richard Thomas's theory that the toaster's power contacts had welded together. Thomas said he saw melting and scoring on the contacts as evidence of welding, but gave no detailed explanation of his methodology and had not tested the theory on other toasters' power contacts. The district court held a Daubert reliability hearing, and Black & Decker moved for summary judgment.