09-0955 Allen Keller Co. v. Barbara Jean Foreman, et al. from Gillespie County and the Fourth District Court of Appeals, San Antonio granted on rehearing For petitioner: Wade Crosnoe, Austin For respondents: Randy Howry, Austin The issue is whether a contractor working for a county owes a duty to protect the public from a danger created pursuant to a contract requiring absolute compliance. In this case a car in which Foreman's daughter was a passenger drove through a gap between a guardrail and an embankment Keller widened according to the county's mandatory specifications. Foreman's daughter drowned when the car plunged into the river. The trial court granted summary judgment for Keller, but the court of appeals reversed. This advisory serves only as an abbreviated guide to oral argument. Summaries are prepared by the Court's staff attorney for public information and reflect his judgment alone on facts and legal issues and in no way represent the Court's opinion about case merits. Texas Supreme Court advisory Contact: Osler McCarthy, Staff Attorney for Public Information (512) 463.1441 or email: osler.mccarthy@courts.state.tx.us

In this premises-liability claim arising from a Brown Recluse-spider bite the issue is whether the wild-animal doctrine -- farae naturae -- protects the property owner from suit by an invitee claiming the owner had a duty to warn that dangerous spiders existed in the premises where he was bitten.