Andrew C. Smith v. American Medical Systems, Inc. v. Humana Hospital Corporation, Inc.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit April 4, 1990

Andrew C. Smith v. American Medical Systems, Inc. v. Humana Hospital Corporation, Inc., 897 F.2d 794 (5th Cir. 1990)

1990 U.S. App. LEXIS 4768; 1990 WL 28664

Opinion

FRANK J. POLOZOLA, District Judge:

In our original opinion, 1 we certified the following question to the Texas Supreme Court:

Under Texas law, is a seller of a product entitled to indemnification from the manufacturer for attorney’s fees incurred by seller during the litigation where the manufacturer settles the case with the plaintiff before a judicial determination of the liability of the parties is made?

In response to our certification, the Texas Supreme Court has ruled as follows: 2

*795 In this cause, there has been no judicial finding that American Medical Systems was negligent or that the prosthesis was unreasonably dangerous. In other words, there has been no judicial determination — or admission — that American Medical Systems was, or could have been legally liable to Smith in any way. Unless and until there is such a determination, Humana Hospital’s claim for indemnity is premature.

For the reasons stated previously, our answer to the certified question is “no”. 3

Therefore, the opinion of the district court is AFFIRMED.

. Smith v. American Medical Systems, Inc., 876 F.2d 434 (5th Cir. 1989).

. Humana Hospital Corp. v. American Medical Systems, Inc., 785 S.W.2d 144 (Texas 1990).

. Id. at 145.

Reference

Full Case Name: Andrew C. SMITH, Plaintiff, v. AMERICAN MEDICAL SYSTEMS, INC., Defendant-Appellee, v. HUMANA HOSPITAL CORPORATION, INC., Defendant-Appellant
Status: Published