Sulak v. American Eurocopter Corp.

901 F. Supp. 2d 834, 89 Fed. R. Serv. 768, 2012 WL 4740176, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143221
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedOctober 3, 2012
DocketAction No. 4:09-CV-651-Y
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 901 F. Supp. 2d 834 (Sulak v. American Eurocopter Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sulak v. American Eurocopter Corp., 901 F. Supp. 2d 834, 89 Fed. R. Serv. 768, 2012 WL 4740176, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143221 (N.D. Tex. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART MOTION TO APPLY HAWAII LAW

TERRY R. MEANS, District Judge.

Pending before the Court is Plaintiffs’ Motion to Apply Hawaii Law (doc. 133), [837]*837filed April 20, 2012. The Court GRANTS the motion in part and DENIES it in part.

I. BACKGROUND

In 2007, a helicopter piloted by William J. Sulak crashed in Hawaii, killing Sulak and three passengers and injuring the other three passengers. Sulak was a resident of Hawaii.1 The helicopter involved in the accident was designed and manufactured by defendant Eurocopter, S.A.S. (“Euro-copter”), a French corporation. (Resp. App. 1-2.) Defendant American Eurocopter Corporation (“AEC”), a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Texas, bought the helicopter from Eurocopter as Eurocopter’s distributor in the United States. (Resp. App. 2, 19.) AEC then sold the helicopter to Jan Leasing, a Nevada corporation. (Resp. App. 2, 20; Reply App. 15.) Heli-USA Airways, Inc. (“Heli-USA”), a Nevada corporation,2 leased the helicopter from Jan Leasing and operated and maintained it in Hawaii. (Resp. App. 20; Reply App. 12-13, 15.) After the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board conducted an investigation and determined that mechanical failure combined with faulty maintenance was the cause of the crash.

Sulak’s family (“the Sulaks”) filed suit against AEC and Eurocopter for negligence, failure to warn, strict product liability, and breach of warranty. The Sulaks alleged that the causes of the crash were defects in flight-control components (which were designed, manufactured, and distributed by AEC and Eurocopter) and the failure to warn of such defects. (3d Am. Compl. 3-4.) The Sulaks filed their suit in a Hawaii state court, and AEC and Euro-copter removed it to a federal court in Hawaii based on diversity jurisdiction. The Hawaii federal court transferred the suit to this Court based on AEC’s insufficient contacts with Hawaii. AEC and Eurocopter responded that the crash was caused by Heli-USA’s negligence in its repair and maintenance of the helicopter. (Answer 8.) The Sulaks dismissed their claims against AEC, but a final judgment as to AEC has not been entered. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b). The disposition of William Sulak’s estate is pending in Hawaii, but the Sulaks reside in California.

Eurocopter filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Before the Court can rule on Eurocopter’s motion, it must determine whether the substantive law of Texas or of Hawaii applies to the parties’ dispute. The Sulaks assert that there is a conflict between Texas and Hawaii law on the following issues: (1) the availability of third-party claims against Heli-USA and Heli-USA’s employees; (2) joint-and-several liability; and (3) product-liability law, which includes the quantum of evidence needed to prove a product defect, the necessity of proof of the existence of a safer alternative design, comparative fault, and the admissibility of subsequent remedial measures. The Sulaks argue that Hawaii law applies, while Eurocopter argues for Texas law.

II. THE RESTATEMENT ON CONFLICT OF LAWS

Because the Court has jurisdiction over this suit based on federal diversity [838]*838jurisdiction, the Court must apply Texas choice-of-law rules to determine whether Texas or Hawaii law governs the Sulaks’ suit. See Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Elec. Mfg. Co., 313 U.S. 487, 496, 61 S.Ct. 1020, 85 L.Ed. 1477 (1941); De Aguilar v. Boeing Co., 47 F.3d 1404, 1413-14 (5th Cir.1995). Texas follows the most-significant-relationship test set out in the Second Restatement of Conflict of Laws (“the Restatement”) to decide choice-of-law issues. See Torrington Co. v. Stutzman, 46 S.W.3d 829, 848 (Tex.2000). Under this analysis, a single state’s law need not govern all substantive issues; thus, each issue is considered separately, and the state law that has the most significant relationship to the issue is applied. See Bain v. Honeywell Int’l, Inc., 257 F.Supp.2d 872, 877 (E.D.Tex.2002); 17A James Wm. Moore, Moore’s Federal Practice § 124.31[4][a] (3d ed. 2012).

Wrongful-death claims are governed by section 175 of the Restatement:

In an action for wrongful death, the local law of the state where the injury occurred determines the rights and liabilities of the parties unless, with respect to the particular issue, some other state has a more significant relationship under the principles stated in § 6 to the occurrence and the parties, in which event the local law of the other state would be applied.

Restatement (Second) Conflict of Laws § 175 (1971) (emphasis added).3 Section 6, which provides basic policy considerations and applies in every choice-of-law case, lists seven relevant factors a Court should consider: (1) the needs of the interstate and international systems; (2) the relevant policies of the forum; (3) the relevant policies of other interested states and the relative interests of those states in the determination of the particular issue; (4) the protection of justified expectations; (5) the basic policies underlying the particular field of law; (6) certainty, predictability and uniformity of result; and (7) ease in the determination and application of the law to be applied. See Restatement (Second) Conflict of Laws § 6(2) (1971). The law of the place of injury applies unless the policy considerations of section 6 show another forum has a more significant relationship with the issue. Cf. Vasquez v. Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., 325 F.3d 665, 674 (5th Cir.2003) (holding specific factors of section 145 are evaluated in light of section 6 policy considerations). These factors are considered qualitatively and not quantitatively. See De Aguilar, 47 F.3d at 1413.

III. CHOICE-OF-LAW DETERMINATION

A. Distinction Between Procedure and Substance

In diversity cases, the applicable substantive law is determined by the usual choice-of-law principles stated above, but the procedural rules are the rules of the forum. See Condit Chem. & Grain Co. v. Helena Chem. Corp., 789 F.2d 1101, 1102 (5th Cir.1986). Thus, if an issue is procedural, there is no need to conduct a choice-of-law analysis. 17A James Wm. Moore, [839]*839Moore’s Federal Practice § 120.31[1][a][i] (3d ed. 2012). The determination of whether a particular procedural or evidentiary rule involves federal procedural law or state substantive law is a difficult one. See Forrest v. Beloit Corp., 424 F.3d 344, 354 n. 7 (3d Cir.2005). Regarding procedural and evidentiary rules, the general rule is if a federal rule of procedure or evidence covers a disputed point, the federal rule is to be followed, even in diversity cases.

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901 F. Supp. 2d 834, 89 Fed. R. Serv. 768, 2012 WL 4740176, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143221, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sulak-v-american-eurocopter-corp-txnd-2012.