McKinley v. Skyline Corp.

900 F. Supp. 2d 408, 2012 WL 4490569
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedSeptember 26, 2012
DocketCivil No. 11-7607 (NLH/KMW)
StatusPublished

This text of 900 F. Supp. 2d 408 (McKinley v. Skyline Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McKinley v. Skyline Corp., 900 F. Supp. 2d 408, 2012 WL 4490569 (D.N.J. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

HILLMAN, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court by way of two motions [Doc. Nos. 11, 32] for summary judgment, the first by Defendant Skyline Corporation, and the second by Third-Party Defendant Homette Corporation, seeking summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. The Court has considered the parties’ submissions and decides this matter pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 78.

For the reasons expressed below, the motions for summary judgment will be granted.

I. JURISDICTION

The Court exercises jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332 based on diversity of citizenship and an amount in controversy in excess of $75,000. Plaintiffs Anne and James McKinley are citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Defendant Skyline Corporation (“Skyline”)1 is incorporated and maintains its principal place of business in the State of Indiana. Similarly Defendant Hoosier Wood Creations, Inc. (“Hoosier”)2 is incorporated and maintains its principal place of business in the State of Indiana. Therefore, complete diversity of citizenship exists between the parties.3 The amount in [410]*410controversy is met because the allegations contained in Plaintiffs’ complaint sufficiently demonstrate that the damages sought are in excess of $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs.

II. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs bring this action under the New Jersey Products Liability Act (the “PLA” of the “Act”) for personal injuries Anne McKinley allegedly suffered when a kitchen chair she was standing on broke while she was inside a prefabricated home she and her husband had recently purchased. Plaintiffs filed the original complaint in this action on December 30, 2011 naming only Skyline as a Defendant. Initially, Plaintiffs alleged that Skyline, the manufacturer of the home, had also “designed, manufactured, fabricated, specified, sold, supplied and/or placed into the stream of commerce” the kitchen chair. (Pl.’s Compl. [Doc. No. 1] ¶¶2-3.) Specifically, Plaintiffs asserted that the kitchen chair at issue “was included as part of the furnishings supplied by ... Skyline with [the] prebuilt summer cottage” Plaintiffs purchased approximately two months before Anne McKinley was injured. (Id. ¶¶ 3-4, 8.) Based on these allegations, Anne McKinley asserts a personal injury claim under the PLA, and James McKinley asserts a derivative claim for loss of consortium. (Id. ¶¶ 17-20.)

Defendant Skyline answered Plaintiffs’ complaint on February 13, 2012 denying that it manufactured, fabricated, specified, supplied, or sold either the prefabricated home or the kitchen chair, and subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment. On February 22, 2012, Skyline also filed a third-party complaint [Doc. No. 12] against Hoosier alleging that Hoosier manufactured the kitchen chair at issue, and then sold and supplied the kitchen chair to Homette Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Skyline. (Skyline’s Third-Party Compl. [Doc. No. 12] ¶¶ 9-10.)

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)(1)(B),4 Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint [Doc. No. 16] on March 2, 2012 naming both Skyline and Hoosier as Codefendants in this action. Plaintiffs’ amended complaint superseded the original version of the complaint “in providing the blueprint for the future course of [this] lawsuit.” Snyder v. Pascack Valley Hosp., 303 F.3d 271, 276 (3d Cir.2002). Thus, upon the filing of the amended complaint naming Skyline and Hoosier as Codefendants, the third-party claims originally alleged by Skyline against Hoosier were more properly considered as crossclaims between these now Codefendants. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 13(g) (“A pleading may state as a crossclaim any claim by one party against a coparty if the claim arises out of the transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the original action!.]”) (emphasis added).

After the amended complaint was filed, Skyline filed an answer [Doc. No. 18] to the amended complaint on March 5, 2012, which appropriately re-alleged Skyline’s third-party claims against Hoosier as crossclaims (hereinafter this document will be referred to as “Skyline’s amended an[411]*411swer with crossclaims”). This procedure was proper because Skyline’s amended answer with crossclaims [Doc. No. 18] superseded both Skyline’s original answer [Doc. No. 9] and the third-party complaint [Doc. No. 12] filed against Hoosier. Therefore, as of the filing of Plaintiffs’ amended complaint and Skyline’s amended answer with crossclaims, Skyline was no longer a “Third-Party Plaintiff’ in this action, but rather a Defendant with respect to Plaintiffs Anne and James McKinley and a Crossclaimant with respect to Hoosier. Similarly, Hoosier was no longer a “Third-Party Defendant” at that point, but rather a Defendant with respect to Plaintiffs Anne and James McKinley, and a Cross-claim Defendant with respect to Skyline.5

In response to Plaintiffs’ amended complaint, Defendant Hoosier filed an answer [Doc. No. 22] with separate defenses, and crossclaims for contribution and indemnification against Skyline on March 14, 2012. Based upon that filing [Doc. No. 22], Hoosier also became a Crossclaimant with respect to Skyline, and Skyline became a Crossclaim Defendant with respect to Hoosier. Also on March 14, 2012, Hoosier filed another submission with the Court entitled “Answer to Third Party Complaint, Separate Defenses, Counterclaim for Contribution and Indemnification, Third Party Complaint for Contribution and Indemnification, and Jury Demand” [Doc. No. 23] which purports, in part, to respond to the allegations made in Skyline’s original third-party complaint. However, as the Court noted supra, Skyline’s third-party complaint is no longer an operative pleading in this action. Accordingly, to the extent Hoosier’s submission [Doc. No. 23] responds to the allegations of the third-party complaint by Skyline, it is more properly viewed as Hoosier’s answer to Skyline’s crossclaims as alleged in the amended answer with crossclaims [Doc. No. 18].

Additionally, Hoosier’s filing [Doc. No. 23] also purports to assert counterclaims for contribution and indemnification against Skyline, which Hoosier identifies as the “Third-Party Plaintiff’ while identifying Hoosier as the “Third-Party Defendant”. However, as set forth supra, these labels are not correct because Hoosier’s claim against Skyline is not a counterclaim between opposing parties, such as a third-party plaintiff and a third-party defendant, but rather Hoosier has asserted cross-claims against a Codefendant named in Plaintiffs’ amended complaint. Therefore, Hoosier’s “Counterclaim for Contribution and Indemnification” as alleged in [Doc. No. 23] must be viewed under Rule 13(g) as a crossclaim. Finally, Hoosier’s filing [Doc. No.

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900 F. Supp. 2d 408, 2012 WL 4490569, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mckinley-v-skyline-corp-njd-2012.