After just forty minutes of deliberation, following a two-week trial, a jury in Corpus Christi found that there were no design or marketing defects in a 2006 Kawasaki Mule. Plaintiff Richard Fisher was attempting to load the unlatched cargo bed of the Kawasaki Mule when he alleged that it suddenly tipped, causing him to fall and injure himself. The plaintiff alleged that the Kawasaki Mule was defectively designed and marketed. The plaintiff maintained Kawasaki should have used a different design for securing the cargo bed and should have also provided better warnings. At trial, the plaintiff asked the jury to award him over $6 million in damages. Kawasaki was represented by Jeff Hawkins and David Prichard of PY, Rick Mueller of Thompson Coburn in St. Louis, Augustin Rivera, Jr. of Dunn, Weathered, Coffey, Rivera & Kasperitis in Corpus Christi and Tom Johnson of Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A.
