Smith v. American Medical Systems, 88-5527

• Decision Date: 04 April 1990
• Docket Number: No. 88-5527,88-5527
• Parties: Andrew C. SMITH, Plaintiff, v. AMERICAN MEDICAL SYSTEMS, INC., Defendant-Appellee, v. HUMANA HOSPITAL CORPORATION, INC., Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 794

897 F.2d 794

Andrew C. SMITH, Plaintiff, v. AMERICAN MEDICAL SYSTEMS, INC., Defendant-Appellee, v. HUMANA HOSPITAL CORPORATION, INC., Defendant-Appellant.

No. 88-5527.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

April 4, 1990.

Richard Francis and Jerry A. Gibson, Plunkett, Gibson & Allen, San Antonio, Tex., for defendant-appellant.

John Milano, Jr., Thornton, Summers, Biechlin, Dunham & Brown, San Antonio, Tex., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas; Edward C. Prado, District Judge.

Before WILLIAMS and GARWOOD, Circuit Judges, and POLOZOLA, ^* District Judge.

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

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.

* District Judge of the Middle District of Louisiana, sitting by designation.

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

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

3 Id. at 145.