Laura Hollister, American Community Mutual Insurance Company, Intervenor v. Dayton-Hudson Corporation

OPINION

GILMAN, Circuit Judge.

Laura Hollister, a citizen of Michigan, was severely burned when the shirt that she was wearing ignited upon contact with a hot electric burner on her apartment stove. She brought a products-liability lawsuit based upon an alleged design defect against Dayton-Hudson Corporation, the Minnesota-based owner of the department store where the shirt was purchased. Finding that Hollister had failed to establish a prima facie case of design defect under Michigan’s “risk-utility test,” the district court granted Dayton-Hudson’s motion for summary judgment.

The district…