Lewis v. Lycoming

73 F. Supp. 3d 539, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175967, 2014 WL 7271326
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 22, 2014
DocketCivil Action No. 11-6475
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 73 F. Supp. 3d 539 (Lewis v. Lycoming) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lewis v. Lycoming, 73 F. Supp. 3d 539, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175967, 2014 WL 7271326 (E.D. Pa. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

BARTLE, District Judge.

Pamela Margaret Lewis, individually and as personal representative of the estate of Steven Edward Lewis, and Keith Whitehead and John 'Joseph Wroblewski as co-personal representatives of the estate of Philip Charles Gray (collectively .“plaintiffs”) have brought this diversity action against defendants Avco Corporation and Lycoming Engines (collectively “Avco”) as well as against Schweizer Aircraft Corporation.1 The lawsuit arises out of a helicopter crash that occurred on September 22, 2009 near Blackpool in Lancashire, England. Lewis and Gray were both killed in the incident. The complaint, which was originally filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County and removed here, contains claims for damages on theories of product liability, negligence, breach of warranty, and concert of action.

Before the court is the motion of Avco for the application of English law to the issue of damages. Plaintiffs have opposed this motion and filed.a cross-motion for the application of the damages law of Pennsylvania.

I.

The relevant facts are undisputed for present purposes. On September 22, 2009, Gray participated in a training flight as a student of Lewis, a certified flight "instructor. These individuals as well as the plaintiffs in this action are or were British citizens and residents of the United Kingdom. During the flight Lewis issued a mayday call over the radio, which transmission included the word, “failure.” A low-R.P.M. warning tone could be heard in the final radio transmission, indicating that the helicopter’s main rotor blade had ceased to rotate at a safe speed. Not long after this final transmission, the aircraft was discovered wrecked in a grassy field near the River Wyre north of the Blackpool Airport from which the aircraft had taken off. Both occupants died.

The helicopter at issue, registration number G-LINX, was a Schweizer 269C manufactured in 2006 by Schweizer Aircraft Corporation in New York and owned by Heli-Lynx, Ltd., a company located in Cumbria, England. Lycoming Engines, which is located in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, designed, manufactured, and sold the HIO-360-G1A piston-driven engine that was installed in the aircraft. The engine was a fuel-injected model supplied by a Precision RSA-5AD1 fuel servo. Ly-coming Engines closely coordinated with the servo manufacturer in the design, testing, and modification of the servo. Plaintiffs have asserted that the servo was defective, and its design and functioning have become a principal issue in this litigation.

[542]*542II.

In diversity actions such as this, courts look to the choice of law rules of the forum state, in this case Pennsylvania, to determine which state’s substantive law to apply. Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Elec. Mfg. Co., 313 U.S. 487, 496, 61 S.Ct. 1020, 85 L.Ed. 1477 (U.S.1941). Pennsylvania follows “a flexible rule which permits analysis of the policies and interests underlying the particular issue before the court and directs courts to apply the law of the state with the most interest in the problem.” Specialty Surfaces Int’l, Inc. v. Cont’l Cas. Co., 609 F.3d 223, 229 (3d Cir.2010) (quotation marks omitted) (quoting Hammersmith v. TIG Ins. Co., 480 F.3d 220, 227 (3d Cir.2007)).

The first step in a choice of law analysis in Pennsylvania is to determine whether there is indeed any relevant difference between the laws in question. When there is no “actual” conflict, no further choice of law analysis is necessary. Hammersmith, 480 F.3d at 230. However; if the court determines that such a conflict does exist, it must sift through the governmental policies underlying the laws in order to classify the conflict as “true,” “false,” or an “unprovided-for case.” Id.

A true conflict exists when the interests of each jurisdiction would be harmed if the court were to apply the law of the other. Id. A true conflict necessitates a deeper determination of “which state has the ‘greater interest in the application of its law ” through a combination of a significant contacts analysis under the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws and a qualitative appraisal of the relevant states’ policies. Id. at 231 (quoting Cipolla v. Shaposka, 439 Pa. 563, 267 A.2d 854, 856 (1970)). In contrast, a false conflict exists when “only one jurisdiction’s governmental interests would be impaired by the application of the other jurisdiction’s law.” Lacey v. Cessna Aircraft Co., 932 F.2d 170, 187 (3d Cir.1991). In a false conflict situation, the court must apply the law of the jurisdiction whose interests would otherwise be impaired. Id. Finally, in an “unprovided-for case,” which exists when neither jurisdiction has any interest at stake in the litigation, the law of the place of the wrong applies. Budget Rent-A-Car Sys., Inc. v. Chappell, 407 F.3d 166, 170 (3d Cir.2005).

With these principles in mind, we begin by comparing the damages law of Pennsylvania and that of England to ascertain whether there is any actual conflict between them. Pennsylvania affords a broad array of recoverable damages for a decedent’s estate and the decedent’s survivors. A survivor may bring a wrongful .death action to seek recompense for lost financial support and for hospital, nursing, medical, and funeral expenses. 42 Pa. Cons.Stat.Ann. § 8301. In addition, the decedent’s estate may recover any damages that otherwise would have been available to the decedent, including damages for loss of earning power over the course of the decedent’s life expectancy, for conscious pain and suffering, and for lost wages between the date of injury and the date of death. Id. § 8302; see also Kiser v. Schulte, 538 Pa. 219, 648 A.2d 1, 4 (1994).

In England the potential recovery is more limited. In that country, dependents of the deceased may recover a fixed level of damages for “bereavement,” for loss of financial support, and funeral expenses.2 The decedent’s estate, however, cannot recover lost earnings after the person’s death as it might in Pennsylvania, which results in a significantly lower range [543]*543of possible recovery. Because England allows a narrower scope of recoverable damages in an action such as this, actual conflicts exist between England’s law and that of Pennsylvania.

We must therefore examine the governmental interests at stake to determine whether the conflict is true, false, or an unprovided-for case. Pennsylvania has at least two interests in the application of its damages law. See Arcila v. Christopher Trucking, 195 F.Supp.2d 690, 694 (E.D.Pa.2002).

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

Related

Knight v. Avco Corporation
M.D. Pennsylvania, 2025

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
73 F. Supp. 3d 539, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175967, 2014 WL 7271326, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lewis-v-lycoming-paed-2014.