Powers v. Lycoming Engines

245 F.R.D. 226, 2007 WL 2782355
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 25, 2007
DocketCivil Action Nos. 06-2993, 06-4228
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 245 F.R.D. 226 (Powers v. Lycoming Engines) 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
Powers v. Lycoming Engines, 245 F.R.D. 226, 2007 WL 2782355 (E.D. Pa. 2007).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

SAVAGE, District Judge.

In these consolidated putative class actions, the plaintiffs move to represent a class of owners or previous owners of aircraft that contain allegedly defective engine crankshafts designed and built by Lycoming Engines.1 They claim that the engines were manufactured with defective crankshafts that can cause a total loss of engine power and inflight engine failures, and that Lycoming knew and concealed the defect that prevents the crankshafts from functioning as intended. They seek damages for the cost to replace the defective crankshafts, which includes parts, labor, transportation, storage, insurance; the loss of the use of the aircraft while the crankshafts are being replaced; and the diminished value of the aircraft.

Lycoming contends that the case is inappropriate for class certification because the facts as to both liability and damages are not common to all members of the putative class, the claims and defenses of the named plaintiffs are not typical of the class, and individual issues will predominate over the common issues. It argues that whether a given engine or crankshaft is defective, whether the planes containing the subject crankshafts were purchased used or new and when each plaintiff had or has the crankshaft replaced are questions peculiar to each individual plaintiff and not amenable to class certification.

Contrary to Lycoming’s contentions, the requirements of Rule 23(a) are satisfied, and a class action is superior to other methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the [228]*228issues, qualifying it under Rule 23(b)(3).2 The class is ascertainable and sufficiently definite. With more than 3000 potential plaintiffs, there is numerosity. Commonality exists because there are common fact questions regarding what and when Lycoming knew of the alleged defect. Typicality is established because each member’s claim arises from the same course of events and each class member will make the same legal arguments to prove liability. Common questions predominate over individual ones. Therefore, the motion for class certification will be granted.

I. Factual Background

The Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) mandates that the type of engines at issue be overhauled after every 2,000 hours of flying time or within twelve years, whichever occurs first. The crankshafts are not typically replaced during these overhauls. Thus, unlike other parts of an aircraft engine that must be replaced at regular intervals, crankshafts are expected to last the life of a regularly maintained aircraft.

On February 21 and April 11, 2006, Lycoming issued two Mandatory Service Bulletins (“MSB”), 569 and 569A, requiring owners of the subject engines to retire and replace more than 4000 potentially defective crankshafts that were manufactured between 1997 and 2002. The MSBs set a replacement deadline of the earliest of: February 21, 2009; the next time the engine crankcase is separated to allow inspection or replacement of parts; or at the next maintenance overhaul.3

On May 25, 2006, the FAA issued a proposed Airworthiness Directive (“AD”) mandating replacement of the same crankshafts addressed in the MSB. The FAA concluded that an “unsafe condition exists” because the “same metallurgical flaw that was found in 23 confirmed crankshaft failures in different groups of Lycoming 360 and 540 engines [which were covered in earlier MSB’s issued in 2002 and 2005] has been found in the crankshafts of this group of engines.”4 The AD warned that if the crankshafts are not replaced, they will “result in total engine power loss, in-flight engine failure, and possible loss of the aircraft.” The AD set a crankshaft replacement deadline of the earliest of the next separation of the engine crankcase, the next engine overhaul, or 12 years from the date the crankshaft first entered service or was last overhauled. The AD became final on September 29, 2006, and effective November 3, 2006.

Plaintiffs claim that Lycoming had known for years that its crankshafts were unsafe and likely to fail. Based on several field reports of broken crankshafts Lycoming had received in 2002, it issued MSBs, which were followed by FAA action that grounded hundreds of aircraft with faulty crankshafts. At that time, Lycoming purportedly paid $35 million to remove, ship and replace the defective crankshafts. In 2005, Lycoming issued two more MSBs and replaced the crankshafts covered by those MSBs at its expense.

Lycoming refuses to pay all costs associated with replacing the crankshafts subject to the most recent MSBs and the AD issued in 2006. It will replace the crankshafts for free if the owners have the engines overhauled at a Lycoming facility in Pennsylvania, or will pay $14,000 of a $16,000 price for a “crankshaft and parts” kit for owners who replace the crankshafts elsewhere. After February of 2009, it will pay nothing for the replacement kits. It refuses to pay costs for labor, shipping, alternative transportation, loss of use or other incidental costs regardless of where and by whom the replacement is done.

II. Procedural History

Plaintiff Charles Powers, a Maryland resident, filed his initial complaint on July 10, 2006, in which he sought to represent himself and a class of other purchasers of an aircraft containing an engine with a crankshaft subject to MSBs 569 and 569A. In his initial complaint, Powers asserted claims of negli[229]*229gence, unjust enrichment and violation of state unfair trade practices statutes, including Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, 73 P.S. § 201-2(4)(xxi).

Plaintiff John Car, a South Carolina resident, in his capacity as “beneficial owner” of an aircraft containing a crankshaft subject to MSBs 569 and 569A, filed his first complaint on September 21, 2006, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, excluding California residents, asserting claims of negligence and unjust enrichment.5

Lycoming filed a motion to dismiss the Powers complaint on September 11, 2006. After consolidating the Powers and Car cases on October 6, 2006, the motion to dismiss was deemed applicable to the Car complaint as well.

After oral argument on the class certification motion, the plaintiffs filed an Amended Consolidated Complaint. The amended complaint added Charles Powers’ wife, Cynthia,6 as a plaintiff; substituted Plane Time, LLC for John Car as a plaintiff;7 deleted the negligence claim; and, added causes of action for breach of implied warranty of merchantability and breach of implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. The consumer protection and unjust enrichment causes of action were retained in the amended complaint. The plaintiffs later withdrew the claims for breach of implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose,8 and for violations of unfair trade practices,9 leaving only the unjust enrichment and breach of warranty of merchantability causes of action.

III. Conflict of Laws

Conflicts among the states’ laws arise in the treatment of the causes of action set forth in the amended complaint. Irreeoncilable conflicts can be an impediment to certification.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
245 F.R.D. 226, 2007 WL 2782355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/powers-v-lycoming-engines-paed-2007.