Caldwell v. Enstrom Helicopter Corp.

230 F.3d 1155, 2000 WL 1610343
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedOctober 30, 2000
DocketNo. 99-15746
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 230 F.3d 1155 (Caldwell v. Enstrom Helicopter Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Caldwell v. Enstrom Helicopter Corp., 230 F.3d 1155, 2000 WL 1610343 (9th Cir. 2000).

Opinion

GRAJBER, Circuit Judge:

In this case, we are asked to decide whether a revised flight manual is a new “system ... or other part” of a helicopter within the meaning of the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 19941 (“GARA”). Our answer is “yes.” Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the district court and remand the case for further proceedings.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Because the district court dismissed the action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), we take all allegations of material fact as true and construe the com[1156]*1156plaint in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs. See Westinghouse Elec. Corp. v. Newman & Holtzinger, P.C., 992 F.2d 932, 934 (9th Cir.1993).

On January 12, 1997, helicopter pilot Brian Caldwell took Seiichi Hanami and another passenger on a sightseeing tour of Saipan, in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Caldwell planned the trip unaware that the last two gallons of gasoline in the helicopter’s fuel tanks could not be used. The helicopter was within 10 minutes of its destination when it ran out of usable fuel. Caldwell attempted a landing, but the main rotor blade struck the. tail boom, causing the helicopter to crash. The accident killed Caldwell and one passenger, and severely injured Hanami.

Defendant, Enstrom Helicopter Corporation, manufactured the helicopter and first sold it to a Florida company in 1974, 23 years before the fatal crash. Caldwell’s employer, Macaw Helicopter, bought the helicopter in 1991. Plaintiffs, Hanami, Caldwell’s estate, and Macaw Helicopter, sued Defendant in 1999 for wrongful death, personal injury, and property damage, alleging negligence and strict liability. Specifically, Plaintiffs contend that the helicopter’s flight manual was defective because it did not include a warning that the last two gallons of gasoline in the fuel tanks would not burn.

Defendant moved to dismiss the action under Rule 12(b)(6), arguing that GARA, a statute of ultimate repose, bars Plaintiffs’ claims. GARA precludes actions against manufacturers of general aviation aircraft if the part that allegedly caused the accident is more than 18 years old. See GARA § 3(3). Plaintiffs responded that this action falls within GARA’s “rolling” feature, which extends the limitation period “with respect to any new component, system, subassembly, or other part which replaced another component,- system, su-bassembly, or other part originally in, or which was added to, the aircraft, and which is alleged to have caused such death, injury, or damage.” Id. § 2(a)(2). Plaintiffs argued that the flight manual, which was revised several times during the last 18 years, is a new “system ... or other part”, of the helicopter within the meaning of GARA’s rolling provision. The district court disagreed, ruling as a matter of law that a revised flight manual is not a “system ... or other part” of an aircraft, and dismissed the action. This timely appeal ensued.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review de novo a dismissal for failure to state a claim pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6). See Monterey Plaza Hotel Ltd. Partnership v. Local 483 of Hotel Employees, Restaurant Employees Union, AFL-CIO, 215 F.3d 923, 926 (9th Cir.2000).

DISCUSSION

GARA applies because this is a “civil action for damages for death or injury to persons or damage to property arising out of an accident involving a general aviation aii-craft.” GARA § 2(a). In GARA, Congress established an 18-year statute of repose for civil actions against manufacturers of general aviation aircraft and component parts. Id. §§ 2(a)(1), 3(3). The 18-year period begins anew if the death, injury, or damage is caused by any “new component, system, subassembly, or other part which replaced another component, system, subassembly, or other part originally in, or which was- added to, the aircraft.” Id. § 2(a)(2).

Although Plaintiffs brought the present action within the time allowed by the local statute of limitations, GARA would bar the action if Plaintiffs were alleging that the fuel tanks were defective. As noted, Defendant manufactured the helicopter in 1974, and there is no allegation that a new fuel tank was installed during the last 18 years. Indeed, Plaintiffs concede that the fuel tanks themselves were in good working order. They argue instead that the flight manual is the defective “system” or “part” of the helicopter that caused the [?]*?accident, because it does not include relevant information about the limits on the fuel tanks’ ability to burn the last two gallons of fuel. Plaintiffs allege that Defendant revised the manual several times, making it a new “system ... or other part” of the helicopter covered by GARA’s rolling provision, § 2(a)(2).

The district court ruled that a revised manual, as a matter of law, never can fall within GARA’s rolling provision. In so deciding, the court relied on a line of cases that have interpreted various statutes of repose as barring actions premised on a failure to warn. See Alter v. Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., 944 F.Supp. 531, 538-39 (S.D.Texas 1996) (applying GARA); see also, e.g., Schamel v. Textron-Lycoming, 1 F.3d 655, 657 (7th Cir.1993) (applying Indiana statute of repose); Alexander v. Beech Aircraft Corp., 952 F.2d 1215, 1220 (10th Cir.1991) (applying Indiana statute of repose); Burroughs v. Precision Airmotive Corp., 78 Cal.App.4th 681, 694-95, 93 Cal.Rptr.2d 124, 133-35 (2000) (applying GARA).

In the present case, however, Plaintiffs do not assert that the manufacturer had a continuing duty to warn. Instead, Plaintiffs contend, under theories of strict liability and negligence, that the revised manual itself is the defective product that caused the accident. See Driver v. Burlington Aviation, Inc., 110 N.C.App. 519, 430 S.E.2d 476, 483 (1993) (holding that, because the plaintiffs premised liability on a defective aircraft manual, a North Carolina statute of repose would not bar the action if the manual caused the injury and was sold to the plaintiffs within the applicable period).

The question whether a flight manual can be “defective in design when the foreseeable risks of harm posed by the product could have been reduced or avoided by the adoption of a reasonable alternative design” is a question of Northern Mariana Islands law and is not before us. See Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability § 2(b).2 The only question for us to decide is whether a revised aircraft manual can fall within GARA’s rolling provision. We hold that it can.

As a matter of logic, there are only two possibilities. Either an aircraft’s flight manual is a part of the aircraft, or it is a separate product.

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Bluebook (online)
230 F.3d 1155, 2000 WL 1610343, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/caldwell-v-enstrom-helicopter-corp-ca9-2000.