Bone v. XTO Energy, Inc.

**What Happened** A worker named Ettinger was injured while working on an unassembled oven that was under construction. He sued Production Systems Incorporated (PSI), claiming the company was negligent and that their product was defectively dangerous. The worker argued PSI should be held strictly liable for his injuries. **What the Court Decided** The appeals court ruled in favor of PSI on two key points. First, they found that an unassembled oven still under construction doesn't qualify as a finished "product" under strict liability laws, so PSI couldn't be held automatically responsible for defects. Second, even though a jury had previously found PSI was negligent, they also determined the injured worker was 51% at fault for his own injury through his careless actions, while PSI was only 49% at fault. Under the law, this meant the worker could recover nothing. **Why This Matters for Workers** This ruling shows that workers can lose injury cases even when their employer is found negligent if the worker's own carelessness contributed more to the accident. It also demonstrates that incomplete products or equipment under construction may not qualify for strict liability protections, making these cases harder to win.