Case Explained: JAUREGUI V. PACCAR, INC., ET AL.

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-06-05 Docket: 2:23-cv-00729-JJT The ninth-circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the defendants in a product liability action arising from a fatal collision between two tractor-trailers. The court applied Arizona state law and reviewed the summary judgment de novo, concluding that the Plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence to establish a design or manufacturing defect under either the consumer expectations test or the risk/benefit analysis. The court held that the unexplained failure of the DTNA vehicle to stall did not create a presumption of a legal defect because the vehicle had been driven approximately 121,000 miles over three years and had not previously stalled, distinguishing it from cases involving brand new products with minimal use. Regarding the Bendix advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), the court found the Plaintiff failed to establish consumer expectations for the technology, noting that the operator’s manual explicitly warned of inherent limitations in radar and camera technology and placed ultimate responsibility on the driver. Furthermore, the court affirmed the district court’s exclusion of expert testimony from Tony Gioutsos, ruling that his opinion regarding a faulty algorithm was unsupported by data as he had not reviewed the code and relied solely on the system’s failure to activate. Finally, the court determined the Plaintiff failed to conduct a proper risk/benefit analysis by failing to explain why the ADAS design limiting false alerts was unreasonable or to identify a reasonable alternative design. The practical consequence is that the Plaintiff’s claims for negligence and product liability are dismissed, and the judgment in favor of PACCAR, Inc., Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, LLC, and Daimler Truck North America LLC stands. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.