Friday, November 13, 2009

General Motors v Sanchez- (Supreme Court of Texas, 1999)

Young Luke Skywalker was training under Obi-Wan Kenobi on board the Millenium Falcon on their way to rescue Princess Leia from the Empire (she claimed they were her only hope). Obi-Wan was instructing Luke on lightsaber techniques, and as part of his training, had Luke read the holographic manual which described safety measures to be taken to reduce the risks involved with such a highly dangerous (and elegant) instrument, including the proper way to turn a lightsaber on and off.

One night after Obi-Wan had gone to sleep, Luke decided to practice his sweet lightsaber moves, so that the princess would be impressed when they rescued her. When he was done, he believed that he'd flipped the lightsaber off, unaware that an intermediate position existed between the on and off positions. While Luke was admiring his Force-bulked physique in the mirror, the lightsaber, which had indeed not been fully turned off, flipped from the intermediate position back on, and sliced off Luke's hand.

Luke sued the lightsaber manufacturer, claiming that the intermediate position was a design defect.

The imperial court held that while the lightsaber was defective in its design, however a space jury found that Luke was negligent for not taking measures to ensure the lightsaber was off, and he was held 50% responsible for his own injury. They found that although Luke did not have a duty to guard against unknown defects, he did have a duty to take reasonable precautions to secure his lightsaber. Because Luke had read the holographic manual, he knew the safety measures required to ensure it was properly turned off, and had breached his duty when he failed to follow those measures. Therefore the imperial court held that the lightsaber manufacturer's damages should be reduced by 50% to account for Luke's comparative responsibility in the harm.

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