Kia Motors Corp. v. Ruiz

Andrea Ruiz was driving a Kia Spectra when she was involved in an automobile accident in which the driver’s-side frontal air bag failed to deploy. Andrea died from dislocated vertebrae in her neck. The Ruiz family filed a products liability action against Kia Motors Corporation and Kia Motors America, Inc. (collectively, “Kia”), and the trial court entered judgment against Kia. The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded for a new trial, holding (1) the presumption of nonliability in Tex Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. 82.008 did not apply in this case; (2) the evidence was legally sufficient to support the jury’s design-defect finding; but (3) the trial court erred in admitting irrelevant evidence of other, dissimilar incidents, and the error was harmful. View "Kia Motors Corp. v. Ruiz" on Justia Law