Harrison v. BF Goodrich Co.

881 So. 2d 288, 2004 WL 422843
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedMarch 9, 2004
Docket2002-CA-00271-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 881 So. 2d 288 (Harrison v. BF Goodrich Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harrison v. BF Goodrich Co., 881 So. 2d 288, 2004 WL 422843 (Mich. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

881 So.2d 288 (2004)

Rosemary HARRISON, Administratrix of the Estate of Sidney Harrison, Deceased, Individually and on Behalf of the Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Sidney Harrison, Deceased, Appellants,
v.
B.F. GOODRICH COMPANY, Appellee.

No. 2002-CA-00271-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

March 9, 2004.
Rehearing Denied June 8, 2004.
Certiorari Denied September 2, 2004.

*289 C. Kent Haney, Dana J. Swan, Clarksdale, Attorneys for Appellant.

O. Stephen Montagnet, W. Thomas McCraney, Jackson, Attorneys for Appellee.

Before McMILLIN, C.J., IRVING and MYERS, JJ.

McMILLIN, C.J., for the Court.

¶ 1. This case comes before the Court as an appeal from a grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant, B.F. Goodrich Company (hereafter "Goodrich"). It is a wrongful death claim brought on behalf of the wrongful death beneficiaries of Sidney Harrison, who died when the van in which he was riding as a passenger overturned. The beneficiaries were the plaintiffs in the trial court and are the appellants before this Court. For the sake of brevity, they will be referred to as "the Beneficiaries." The claim against Goodrich consisted of an allegation that the accident resulted when a defectively manufactured *290 tire bearing the B.F. Goodrich name blew out.

¶ 2. The trial court granted summary judgment based on the uncontested fact that Goodrich did not manufacture or market the allegedly defective tire but that it had been manufactured by another entity having no business connection to Goodrich beyond the fact that Goodrich had entered into a licensing agreement permitting the manufacturer to place Goodrich's name on the tire.

¶ 3. It is from that ruling that the Beneficiaries have perfected this appeal.

¶ 4. There is an additional issue on appeal involving an unsuccessful attempt by the Beneficiaries to amend their complaint to bring in as additional defendants those entities believed to have been engaged in the actual manufacture of the blown tire.

¶ 5. We find no reversible error in the trial court's decision to grant summary judgment in favor of Goodrich. We also conclude that the motion for leave to amend was never properly presented to the trial court for decision and must be deemed as having been abandoned; the result being that the matter may not be raised on appeal.

I.

Summary Judgment

¶ 6. The evidence is undisputed that the named defendant, B.F. Goodrich Company, was not directly involved in the design, manufacture, or distribution into commerce of the allegedly defective tire. By affidavits and through depositions, uncontradicted facts emerged showing that Goodrich ceased all tire manufacturing or marketing activities no later than 1988, and that the tire in question, though bearing the trademark "B.F. Goodrich," was not manufactured until approximately 1991. By that time, another manufacturing entity was producing tires bearing the Goodrich trademark under authority of a trademark licensing agreement between that entity and Goodrich.

¶ 7. The direct allegations in the original complaint against Goodrich set out a products liability claim based on strict liability in tort. Products liability claims based on principles of strict liability for defectively manufactured items were first recognized in Mississippi when the Mississippi Supreme Court applied Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts in State Stove Manufacturing Co. v. Hodges, 189 So.2d 113, 118 (Miss.1966), which involved the explosion of a water heater. The overarching principles of strict liability for manufacturers and marketers of goods have since been codified by the Legislature in Section 11-1-63 of the Mississippi Code.

¶ 8. Both the original restatement relied on by the supreme court and the legislatively enacted provisions governing strict liability apply by their terms to those actually engaged in the manufacture and marketing of a product. The restatement dealt exclusively with the liability of a "seller," which necessarily included the manufacturer of a product who put the product into the stream of commerce even though there may have been one or more intermediate sales of the product before it reached the consumer or user who ultimately suffered injury due to the product's defective or dangerous condition. It is plain that, on the facts of this case, Goodrich cannot be brought into the definition of one on whom strict liability is placed by virtue of Section 402A. The present statute, Section 11-1-63, by its explicit terms, confines product liability claims to manufacturers or sellers of products. Miss.Code Ann. § 11-1-63(a) (Supp.2003). Again, because Goodrich fits neither of these descriptive terms on the uncontroverted facts before the Court, we are satisfied *291 that Goodrich was entitled to summary judgment on the theory of recovery advanced on the face of the complaint.

¶ 9. However, though there has been no subsequent amendment to the complaint to allege some alternate theory of recovery, it is evident from our review of the briefs and record before this court that the Beneficiaries, by agreement or at least acquiescence, were permitted to raise a separate but related theory of recovery against Goodrich. That theory of recovery has been discussed under the general heading of the "apparent manufacturer" theory. That theory of recovery was set out in Section 400 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts and states, in part, that "[o]ne who puts out as his own product a chattel manufactured by another is subject to the same liability as though he were its manufacturer." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 400 (1965). Other courts have made short work of such claims, pointing out that the section imposes liability only on a party somehow engaged in "putting out" the item and observing that a trademark licensor is not engaged in any aspect of "putting out" the product.

¶ 10. By way of example, in Affiliated FM Insurance Co. v. Trane Co. 831 F.2d 153, 156 (7th Cir.1987), strict liability was sought to be imposed against Trane, who had designed heating equipment that caused a fire, though the equipment itself had been manufactured by Trane-Canada, a legally distinct entity. The court refused, saying that Trane had no part in the "putting out" of the heater since it "was not involved in the manufacture, sale or installation of the heater." Id. at 156.

¶ 11. In a case specifically dealing with the liability of a trademark licensor for defective products bearing the licensor's logo, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi considered a personal injury claim caused by an exploding vehicle battery marketed as a "NAPA 7000 series battery" and purchased from a parts house that was a member of the National Automotive Parts Association (hence NAPA). Harmon v. Nat'l Auto. Parts Ass'n, 720 F.Supp. 79 (N.D.Miss.1989). The court granted summary judgment to NAPA when it was shown that NAPA was a membership organization providing marketing and consulting services to its members and that it licensed the NAPA trademark to several member organizations engaged in the manufacture and marketing of parts under the NAPA label. Id. at 80.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

HERNANDEZ v. THE HOME DEPOT, INC. (NRAP 5)
568 P.3d 119 (Nevada Supreme Court, 2025)
Ordell Norman v. State of Mississippi
Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2024
Stein v. Pfizer Inc.
137 A.3d 279 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2016)
Lou v. Otis Elevator Company
933 N.E.2d 140 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2010)
Green v. Allendale Planting Co.
954 So. 2d 1032 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2007)
Russell v. Ford Motor Co.
960 So. 2d 495 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2006)
Larry Green v. Allendale Planting Company
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2005

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
881 So. 2d 288, 2004 WL 422843, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harrison-v-bf-goodrich-co-missctapp-2004.