On March 29, 2019, U.S. District Court in Houston denied TASER’s Motion for Summary Judgment with respect to Officer Taylor’s product liability claims against it.
The Judge found that the evidence, and reasonable inferences from it, raise legitimate questions as to whether the TASER X2 stun gun was underpowered as designed and whether Officer Taylor’s career-ending injuries were caused by the failure of that weapon to incapacitate her assailant.
Judge Johnson wrote “the jury is capable of logical, common sense conclusions about what could happen if police officers were armed with less effective [stun guns] and lost confidence in their use.” She added, “the jury will have to listen to all of the evidence and decide whom to believe. Here, the justifiable inferences could lead a reasonable jury to the conclusion that Plaintiff and Walker engaged in hand-to-hand combat after Plaintiff deployed the X2 and that Plaintiff’s back injuries resulted in that fight.”
Plaintiff’s lead trial counsel, Andy Vickery said, “I am delighted to see that the Judge correctly applied the law to the issues in this case and look forward to a Jury trial regarding the facts in the very near future.”