Plaintiff’s Negligent Conduct Will Not be a Defense in a Strict Product Liability Action When Plaintiff Fails to Discover or Guard Against the Defective Product: Keen v. Ashot Ashkelon, Ltd., 748 S.W.2d 91 (Tex. 1988)

Daryel Keen sued Ashot Ashkelon, Ltd. on a strict product liability theory, alleging that Ashot manufactured a defective sand shoe, which was used on a loaded trailer that Strick Corporation manufactured and assembled. Keen was injured due to the defective sand shoe and by contributory negligence. On appeal, the Texas Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's judgment, disregarding the jury's finding of Keen's contributory negligence, and held that the nature of Keen's negligence was a failure to guard against a defective product, which cannot be used as a defense to reduce the amount of damages in a strict product liability action.