Smith v. Piper Aircraft Corp.

18 F.R.D. 169, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4080
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 16, 1955
DocketCiv. A. No. 4072
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 18 F.R.D. 169 (Smith v. Piper Aircraft Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Piper Aircraft Corp., 18 F.R.D. 169, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4080 (M.D. Pa. 1955).

Opinion

MURPHY, Chief Judge.

In this diversity action plaintiff of Alabama seeks damages under a Georgia statute from defendant manufacturer, a Pennsylvania corporation, for the wrongful death of her husband in an airplane crash in Georgia. The airplane, a Piper Pacer PA manufactured by defendant in this district, was purchased by Truehart E. Smith as president of Smith Way, Inc., from the Southern Airways Co., a duly licensed distributor of defendant’s products in Birmingham, Alabama. Within ten days thereafter, with Smith as pilot accompanied by two invited guests— Jones and Fowler — the plane while in flight crashed to earth, demolishing the plane, killing all three occupants. In support of her claim plaintiff alleged (a) breach of warranty: that the aircraft was free from defects of material and workmanship and fit to operate safely in flight with a reasonably competent pilot under reasonable flight conditions. While the airplane was being so operated the right aileron, having been improperly attached and secured to the right wing, [171]*171became detached and as a proximate result thereof the plane crashed. Such defect was not visible and could not have been discovered by plaintiff or plaintiff’s husband by reasonable inspection, (b) Negligence: the aircraft was manufactured of defective material and so negligently manufactured and assembled as to render it unsafe to fly. Such negligence was unknown to plaintiff or plaintiff’s husband but the defendant knew or, by the exercise of reasonable diligence, should have known thereof.1

Defendant denied making any warranty or breach thereof; denied being negligent and as an affirmative defense asserted that the plane should not have been aloft under existing weather conditions; assumption of risk; that Smith was not competent to operate the plane under the prevailing circumstances, and that such negligence was the proximate cause of the accident.2

Plaintiff moved to strike the affirmative defense, considered hereafter, and, without first seeking permission of the court, after the statute of limitations had run, filed an amended complaint asserting defendant was negligent in and about the manufacture, construction, testing, design, and inspection of the airplane.3 Defendant objects to the amendment on the ground that plaintiff thereby seeks to assert a new cause of action.

This being a diversity case we look to Pennsylvania law to determine the substantive rights and obligations of the parties. Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 1938, 304 U.S. 64, at page 78, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188, including the Pennsylvania conflict of law rules since the operative facts occurred in Georgia. Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Electric Mfg. Co., Inc., 1941, 313 U.S. 487, 61 S.Ct. 1020, 85 L.Ed. 1477; Moran v. Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Co., 3 Cir., 1948, 166 F.2d 908, at page 910; Boyle v. Ward, 3 Cir., 1942, 125 F.2d 672, at page 673. Under Pennsylvania law the law of the place where the injury was sustained 4— the lex loci delicti — determines whether a right of action exists. It is Georgia law which prescribes the standard of care that the defendant must have observed. Foley v. Pittsburgh-Des Moines Co., 1949, 363 Pa. 1, at page 9, 68 A.2d 517.

A Pennsylvania or a Georgia court would apply and follow the doctrine enunciated in the Restatement of Torts, §§ 395 and 398; see Foley v. Pittsburgh-Des Moines Co., supra, 363 Pa. at pages 29, 30, 68 A.2d at pages 530, 531; Simmons Co. v. Hardin, 75 Ga.App. 420, 43 S.E.2d 553.

§ 395. “Negligent Manufacture of Chattel; Dangerous Unless Carefully Made. A manufacturer who fails to exercise reasonable care in the manufacture of a chattel which, unless carefully made, he should recognize as involving an unreasonable risk of causing substantial bodily [172]*172harm to those who lawfully use it for a purpose for which it is manufactured and to those whom the supplier should expect to be in the vicinity of its probable use, is subject to liability for bodily harm caused to them by its lawful use in a manner and for a purpose for which it is manufactured.
“Comment: a. When inspections and tests necessary. As heretofore pointed out (§ 298, Comment a), the precaution necessary to comply with the standard of reasonable care varies with the danger involved. Consequently the character of harm likely to result from the failure to exercise care in manufacture affects the question as to what is reasonable care. It is reasonable to require those who make or assemble automobiles to subject the raw material, or parts, procured from even reputable manufacturers, to inspections and tests which it would be obviously unreasonable to require of a product which, although defective, is unlikely to cause more than some comparatively slight, though still substantial, harm to those who use it. * * *
“c. Particulars which require care. A manufacturer is required to exercise reasonable care in manufacturing any article which, if carelessly manufactured, is likely to cause more than trivial harm to those who use it in the manner for which it is manufactured. The particulars in which reasonable care is usually necessary for protection of those whose safety depends upon the character of chattels are, (1) the adoption of a formula or plan which, if properly followed, will produce an article safe for the use for which it is sold, (2) the selection of material and parts to be incorporated in the finished article, (3) the fabrication of the article by every member of the operative staff no matter how high or low his position therein, (4) making such inspections and tests during the course of manufacture and after the article is completed as the manufacturer should recognize as reasonably necessary to secure the production of a safe article, and (5) the packing of the article so as to be safe for those who must be expected to unpack it.
“Comment: The exercise of reasonable care in selecting raw material and parts to be incorporated ■in the finished article usually requires something more than a mere inspection of the material and parts. A manufacturer should have sufficient technical knowledge to select such a type of material that its use will secure a safe finished product. So too, a manufacturer who incorporates a part made by another manufacturer into his finished product should exercise reasonable care to ascertain not only the material out of which the part is made but also the plan under which it is made. He must have sufficient technical knowledge to form a reasonably accurate judgment as to whether a part made under such a plan and of such material is or is not such as to secure a safe finished product. The part is of his own selection, and it is reasonable for the users of the product to rely not only upon a careful inspection but sufficient technical knowledge to make a careful inspection valuable in securing an article safe for use. In all of these particulars the amount of care which the manufacturer must exercise is proportionate to the extent of the risk involved in using the article if manufactured without the exercise of these precautions.

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Bluebook (online)
18 F.R.D. 169, 1955 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4080, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-piper-aircraft-corp-pamd-1955.