Moyer v. Teledyne Continental Motors, Inc.

979 A.2d 336, 2009 Pa. Super. 124, 2009 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2199, 2009 WL 1929328
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 7, 2009
Docket1402 EDA 2007
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 979 A.2d 336 (Moyer v. Teledyne Continental Motors, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moyer v. Teledyne Continental Motors, Inc., 979 A.2d 336, 2009 Pa. Super. 124, 2009 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2199, 2009 WL 1929328 (Pa. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinions

OPINION BY

STEVENS, J.:

¶ 1 The instant matter is an action based on claims of negligence, breach of warranty and strict liability stemming from a single engine aircraft crash.1 Appellants, the adult children of decedents Ronald Moyer and Judy Moyer, appeal from the trial court’s Orders granting summary judgment in favor of Appellee Teledyne Continental Motors, Inc. (hereinafter “TCM”), and Appellee Piedmont Hawthorne Aviation, Inc., (hereinafter “Piedmont”) and from the Order sustaining the preliminary objections of Appellee DivCo, Inc. (hereinafter DivCo).2 Upon a review of the record, we affirm and find inapplicable the exceptions to the eighteen (18) year statute of repose established by the governing federal statute, the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 (“GARA”), Pub.L. No. 103-298, 108 Stat. 1552 (codified as amended at 49 U.S.C.S. 40101, Note).3

¶ 2 In its Opinion filed pursuant to Pa. R.A.P. 1925(a), the trial court set forth the following factual background:

On January 26, 2003, Ronald and Judy Moyer were killed when their Beech V35B single engine aircraft crashed on a small island in the Delaware River. See [Appellants’] Response to TCM’s Motion for Summary Judgment. The Moyers departed from Wings Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and were en route to Columbia, South Carolina. Id. Ronald Moyer, a licensed pilot, was flying the plane. While in flight, Moyer reported a partial loss of engine power. Id. Although air traffic control directed Moyer to a local airport, Moyer radioed back he did not have enough power to make it to the airport. Id. Moyer landed on a small island in the Delaware, but unfor[340]*340tunately impacted trees on the way down which resulted in an explosion and fire that killed Mr. and Mrs. Moyer. Id.
At the time of the accident, the Moyer’s [sic] aircraft contained an engine assembled by [Appellee] TCM (serial number 573483). TCM assembled and shipped the engine to Beech Aircraft in September, 1980. See Declaration of John S. Barton. Beech Aircraft then installed the engine on the aircraft and the aircraft was delivered to the original owner on April 8,1982. Id. At the time of the accident, the crankcase4 of the subject engine was a replacement, formerly in another TCM engine (serial number 519154). Id. TCM never inspected, repaired or modified either crankcase after the initial assembly. Id.
The crankcase in the aircraft at the time of the crash was repaired on previous occasions. On May 15, 1998, a crack was discovered in the original crankcase. See [Appellants’] response to TCM’s Motion for Summary Judgment. The engine was sent to [Appel-lee] (“Piedmont”) for repair. Id. Piedmont removed the crankcase and sent it to Appellee (“Div[C]o”), an FAA approved facility for repair. Id. Rather than repair the crankcase, Div[C]o replaced the crankcase and sent the replacement to Piedmont. Piedmont installed the Div[C]o crankcase in the subject aircraft. This replacement is the reason why the engine, at the time of the accident, contained a crankcase from an engine with a different serial number.
In November, 2002, the subject aircraft engine underwent additional repairs by a third party, Mr. Robert Ca-baniss, Jr. Cabaniss performed a “top overhaul” of the engine, replacing cylinder assemblies and connecting rod bearings designed and manufactured by Defendant Superior Air Parts “(Superior”). See Cabaniss Deposition, pg. 73, 74, and 82. During the November, 2002 repair, a silicon sealant was applied to the cylinders of the crankcase by Cabaniss, assisted by Moyer. Id. at 109-110. The sealant was not on TCM’s approved list of sealants for that engine.

Trial Court Opinion, filed 8/17/07, at 2-3.

¶ 3 In August of 2005, DivCo, an Oklahoma corporation with its sole place of business in Tulsa, was dismissed from the instant action after it had filed Preliminary Objections to Appellants’ Complaint asserting the trial court’s lack of personal jurisdiction over it. Thereafter, TCM and Piedmont successfully moved for summary judgment, the former pleading several GARA provisions, and the latter claiming no party had advanced a theory of liability against it. This appeal followed, and in response to the trial court’s Order entered on June 4, 2007, Appellants filed a statement of matters complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) on June 13, [341]*3412007, wherein they raised the following issues:

1. The [c]ourt erred in granting summary judgment in favor of [TCM] pursuant to the 18-year statute of repose contained within the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994, Pub.L. No. 103-298, 108 Stat. 1552 (codified as amended at 49 U.S.C. § 40101, Note) (“GARA”) because TCM Service Bulletin M90-17 was issued on August 23, 1990 (12]/¿ years before the accident), is considered a ‘replacement part’ under the cases interpreting GARA, and was a proximate cause of the crash that killed [Appellants’] decedents.
2. The [c]ourt erred in granting summary judgment in favor of [TCM] pursuant to GARA’s 18-year statute of repose because [Appellants] have presented substantial evidence that [this Appellee] ‘knowingly misrepresented to the Federal Aviation Administration, or concealed or withheld from the Federal Aviation Administration’ required information that is causally related to the harm which [Appellants’] suffered, and all doubts as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact must be resolved against the moving party.
3. The [e]ourt erred in granting summary judgment in favor of [“Piedmont”] without permitting oral argument despite [Appellants’] specific request pursuant to Pa.R.Civ.P. 211.
4. The [c]ourt erred in granting summary judgment in favor of [Piedmont] because their sole argument, that ‘no party has advanced a theory of liability against [it] and there are no expert reports criticizing [it],’ was clearly erroneous as [Appellants’] maintenance expert opined that [this Appellee] violated Federal Aviation Regulation § 43.13 by using a crankcase that had a repair weld in a highly stressed area and that such conduct was a proximate cause of the fatal crash.
5. The [c]ourt erred in sustaining the preliminary objections of [DivCo] and dismissing [Appellants’] claims pursuant to Pa.R.Civ.P. 1028(a)(2) for lack of personal jurisdiction, because this [Appel-lee] at all times material hereto, maintained a highly ‘interactive’ webpage, admittedly directed its sales activities toward the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and sold its products and services to residents of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania thus making the exercise of personal jurisdiction appropriate under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5301, et seq., and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

¶ 4 In an Opinion filed on August 20, 2008, a panel of this Court affirmed the trial court’s Orders which are the subject of the within appeal. Thereafter, on October 23, 2008, that Opinion was withdrawn in this Court’s Per Curiam Order which also granted a rehearing en banc,6

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Moyer v. Teledyne Continental Motors, Inc.
979 A.2d 336 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
979 A.2d 336, 2009 Pa. Super. 124, 2009 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2199, 2009 WL 1929328, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moyer-v-teledyne-continental-motors-inc-pasuperct-2009.