Perez v. Lockheed Corp.

81 F.3d 570, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 10094, 1996 WL 172250
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided April 29, 1996·No. No. 95-50091·Published·Cited by 78 cases

Opinion

GOODWIN, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs, bringing product liability claims arising out of a fatal crash of an Air Force C-5A in Germany, appeal the summary judgment in favor of defendants, Lockheed and General Electric. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

The crash occurred approximately 17 seconds after takeoff from Ramstein Air Base in [572] Germany on August 29, 1990. Thirteen of the seventeen servicemen aboard the aircraft were killed. Plaintiffs sued on theories of manufacturer’s liability based upon Georgia state law failure to warn, breach of warranty and gross negligence.

A. The Crash Aircraft

The C-5A was designed, manufactured and delivered to the Air Force pursuant to a government contract with Lockheed Corporation.2 Although the original procurement contract may have contained only general specifications, the actual development of the C-5A resulted in detailed specifications designed by both the defendants and the Air Force. Lockheed subcontracted with General Electric to design and manufacture engines for the C-5A.3 General Electric manufactured and designed the thrust reversers in Ohio. Lockheed installed the General Electric engines into the C-5A and conducted the remainder of its work on the C-5A in Georgia. The first C-5A was delivered to the Air Force, in Georgia, in 1971. The crash aircraft was maintained at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, but flew missions all over the world.

B. Modification of the Crash Aircraft

From time to time, the C-5A, including the crash aircraft, has undergone modifications based on recommendations from the Air Force and from Lockheed itself. The modification relevant to this case was made pursuant to Engineering Change Proposal (“ECP”) 7054. As requested and agreed to by the Air Force, the purpose of ECP 7054 was to reconfigure the engine pylons to maximize the separation of flammable substances from ignition sources. This reconfiguration also involved the relocation of the ground stud whose failure allegedly caused the accident. Importantly, however, the relocation of the ground stud did not change the original design of the circuit. Lockheed designed and manufactured a kit, based on ECP 7054, that was used to retrofit the pylons on all C-5As. The Air Force was to begin taking delivery of these kits in 1981. The Air Force, and not Lockheed or General Electric, installed the kits on the aircraft.

C.Air Force Involvement in the Design and Manufacture of the C-5A

The Air Force was at all relevant times, and still is, closely involved in the design, manufacture and maintenance of the C-5A. The Air Force directly participated in the design of nearly every part of the aircraft. In the instances where the Air Force was not directly involved, it approved the designs after reviewing them in detail with the relevant personnel of the defendants. As the planes were being manufactured and developed, the Air Force required Lockheed to put the various components through rigorous testing to ensure that all of the contract specifications had been satisfied. The Air Force reviewed and approved these tests. The Air Force did not merely “rubber stamp” the tests and data, but placed its officers on site to observe the development and manufacture of the C-5A, including the electrical circuit design at issue in this case. Once the planes were built, the Air Force and Lockheed conducted joint tests before putting them into active military service.

II. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Seven separate lawsuits were filed in Texas and Florida state courts. Representatives of eleven of the decedents and one of the survivors filed products liability lawsuits asserting claims based on strict liability, negligence, negligent failure to warn, breach of warranty, and gross negligence in the design, manufacture and marketing of the C-5A aircraft.4

The plaintiffs theorized that the aircraft crashed because of an uncommanded and undetected deployment of the thrust reverser on one of the two engines on the left side of the aircraft. The plaintiffs alleged that this [573] deployment was caused by the defective design and manufacture, or modification, of the electrical system contained in the pylon (the component that attaches the engine to the wing). Although the plaintiffs’ brief characterizes this as “one of the theories of liability” it is the only one mentioned in the record.

The electrical system was configured so that the circuit that sends the signals to deploy or retract the thrust reverser, the “enunciator”, and the circuit that sends signals back to the cockpit control panel, the “indicator”, were grounded by physical attachment to the same ground stud. The plaintiffs believe, but offered no proof, that this ground stud failed, causing a single point electrical failure, and simultaneously disabled both the enunciator and indicator circuits, making it impossible for the crew to know that the thrust reverser was deployed.

The defendants, on the other hand, contended that the accident was caused by crew inattention.

The defendants removed all of the lawsuits to federal district courts in Texas and Florida on the basis of diversity jurisdiction. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407, transferred the cases to the Western District of Texas for pretrial proceedings because most of the plaintiffs are Texas residents and many relevant documents and witness were located at Kelly Air Force Base.

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Perez v. Lockheed Corp., 81 F.3d 570, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 10094, 1996 WL 172250 (5th Cir. 1996).

81 F.3d 570 (Perez v. Lockheed Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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