In this note we consider the stability properties of a system class that arises in the control design problem of switched linear systems. The control design we are studying is based on a classical pole-placement approach. We analyse the stability of the resulting switched system and develop analytic conditions which reduce the complexity of the stability problem. We further consider two special cases for which strongly simplified conditions are obtained that support the analytic controller design. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.