A federal judge in Houston denied the plaintiff’s motion for new trial in a wrongful death case against American Honda Motor Co., Inc. that PY won on summary judgment. On January 6, 2015, the federal court granted summary judgment in favor of Honda finding that the plaintiff failed to offer evidence on a key element of their design defect theory. Honda showed that the plaintiffs’ expert had no evidence that his proposed alternative design was economically feasible as required by Texas law. The federal court granted summary judgment on the plaintiffs’ claims for design defect, negligence, and breach of warranty. The plaintiffs asked the judge to reconsider his ruling, but he denied the request on March 30, 2015. Honda was represented by Jeff Hawkins, David Prichard and David Montpas of PHY as well as by Derek Whitefield of Dykema Gossett in Los Angeles.
