Viola Lopez, Individually and on Behalf of the Estate of Guadalupe Lopez, Jr.,, Olga L. Cadena as next friend of Daniel Rolando Lopez, a Minor v. Smeal Manufacturing Company v. Juan Perez, Perez Water Well Service, Cause No. 98-11-08745-CV in the 79th Judicial District Court of Brooks County, Texas

Eduardo Roberto Rodriguez and Joseph A. (Tony) Rodriguez defended Smeal Manufacturing Company against allegations that a Smeal derrick contained a marketing defect and that Smeal was negligent for an alleged failure to provide information regarding available aftermarket optional equipment designed to prevent an electrocution, such as had occurred to Plaintiffs' decedent Guadalupe Lopez, Jr. in this wrongful death case. At the close of Plaintiffs' case, the Court granted Smeal's Motion to Dismiss as to the claims of Plaintiff-Intervenor Hilda Ramirez Lopez, finding that she had failed to provide evidence of her claim to have standing as a common law wife. At the close of the case, the jury found no marketing defect and no negligence as to Smeal, and found that the solely negligent party was Plaintiffs' decedent Guadalupe Lopez, Jr.