Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, has named Robert C. Alden as the “Austin Best LawyersPersonal Injury Litigation Lawyer of the Year” for 2012.After more than a quarter of a century in publication, Best Lawyers is designating “Lawyers of the Year” in high-profile legal specialties in large legal communities. Only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is being honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.”

Best Lawyers compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The current, 18th edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2012) is based on more than 3.9 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.

The lawyers being honored as “Lawyers of the Year” have received particularly high ratings in our surveys by earning a high level of respect among their peers for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity.

Steven Naifeh, President of Best Lawyers, says, “We continue to believe – as we have believed for more than 25 years – that recognition by one’s peers is the most meaningful form of praise in the legal profession. We would like to congratulate Robert C. Alden on being selected as the ‘Austin Best Lawyers Personal Injury Litigation Lawyer of the Year’ for 2012.”

Alden represented his injured client three times in front of federal court juries in Austin, finally won a favorable verdict and preserved that victory at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The ruling in Jacob A. Brochtrup v. Mercury Marine, et al., a boating design- defect case, is important, because it’s “the first decision in the country holding that an unguarded propeller is an unreasonably dangerous product that is defectively designed,” says Alden, a partner in Austin’s Byrd Davis Furman.

According to the 5th Circuit’s May 27 opinion, the background in the case is as follows: Brochtrup was severely injured after his right leg made contact with the spinning motor of a boat engine. His leg ultimately was amputated at the hip. Brochtrup sued Mercury Marine and Sea Ray (divisions of the Brunswick Corp.) in state court alleging a design defect — an unguarded propeller on the boat’s MerCruiser engine. After the defendants removed the suit to federal court, the case proceeded to trial three times, twice resulting in hung juries. The third jury found a design defect and awarded damages to Brochtrup.

Before and after the verdict, the defendants moved for a judgment as a matter of law, which the trial court denied. The defendants appealed those rulings as well as the trial court’s denial of a jury instruction on the elements of a Texas design-defect claim. Full Story