Swartz v. SGL Industries, Inc.

34 Pa. D. & C.3d 329, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 184
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland County
DecidedDecember 17, 1984
Docketno. 1866 Civil 1982
StatusPublished

This text of 34 Pa. D. & C.3d 329 (Swartz v. SGL Industries, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Swartz v. SGL Industries, Inc., 34 Pa. D. & C.3d 329, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 184 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1984).

Opinion

BAYLEY, J.,

This suit was instituted in 1981 in Franklin County to recover damages alleged to have occurred in an accident on March 15, 1979. After transfer to this court an amended complaint was filed on November 5, 1982. The paragraphs of that amended complaint pertinent to the issue at hand are as follows:

“5. On or about March 15, 1979, plaintiff was employed by ITT Domestic Pump Corporation at its plant in Shippensburg, Cumberland County, Pa.
6. On or about 10:35 p.m. on the night of March 15, 1979, plaintiff was performing working activities at his place of employment as aforesaid. Said working activities consisted of the use of a grinding wheel to grind molded metal parts.
7. While working at the said occupation on March 15, 1979, the abrasive wheel of the grinding machine shattered and injured the said plaintiff.
8. The said grinding wheel at the time and place aforesaid shattered and pierced the protective helmet of plaintiff causing multiple injuries.
9. Plaintiff as a result of the aforesaid grinding wheel explosion suffered the following injuries, a severe laceration of the right cheek extending [331]*331through the mandible, extreme lacerations thru the tongue and soft palate accompanied by extreme hemorrhaging.
29. Defendant SGL Industries failed to correctly construct the abrasive wheel that shattered and injured plaintiff.
30. Defendant SGL Industries failed to mark the said wheel in such a manner as to warn of the standard and limitations of a wheel of the nature herein used.
31. Defendant SGL Industries failed to design a warning label for the said grinding wheel which would be visible to the user of such wheel if the same was installed on a grinding machine.
32. SGL Industries failed to design a warning label which was permanently affixed to the said abrasive so as to give adequate notice to a user of the said wheel after the said wheel was attached to a grinding machine of the limitations of the said wheel.
34. Chicago Pneumatics(sic) Tool Company was negligent in that they failed to clearly mark their grinding machine with the proper warning of the limitations of the said machine.,
35. Chicago Pneumatics(sic) Tool Company was negligent in that they faded to install guards on their grinding machine so as to keep abrasive splinters from injuring users of the said machine.
36. Chicago Pneumatics(sic) Tool Company was negligent in that they failed to label their machines in such a way that any limitations of the said machine were visable to the user even after normal use of the said machine.
37. Chicago Pneumatics(sic) Tool Company was negligent in that they failed to supply and design guards for their machines that were not removable.
38. 3M Company was negligent in as much as [332]*332they knew or should have known that the helmet marketed by them was unfit for the purpose for which it was sold.
39. 3M Company was negligent in as much as they failed to warn users of the said helmet that the design of the helmet would not safeguard them from abrasive wheel debris.”

This case has become a regular fixture on our pre-trial argument lists. Fortunately the issue now before us does not require that we document the torturous pre-trial jockeying between the parties. At this point plaintiff has filed a petition upon which we granted a rule to show cause against defendants why the complaint should not be amended to include allegations of strict liability. Since the statute of limitations has long since run defendants have objected and claimed untold prejudice should we grant the relief requested.

DISCUSSION

Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1033 provides:

“A party, either by filed consent of the adverse party or by leave of court, may at any time change the form of action, correct the name of a party or amend his pleading. The amended pleading may aver transactions or occurrences which have happened before or after the filing of the original pleading, even though they give rise to a new cause of action or defense. An amendment may be made to conform the pleading to the evidence offered or admitted.”

Amendments to pleadings are freely allowed under the Rules of Civil Procedure but are subject to the qualification that an amendment may not introduce a new cause of action after the statute of limitations has run. Kuisis v. Bald.-Lima-Hamilton Corp., 457 Pa. 321, 319 A.2d 914 (1974); Sanchez [333]*333v. City of Philadelphia, 302 Pa. Super. 184, 319 A.2d 914 (1982).

In Kuisis, appellant was injured by a load of steel pipe which fell on him when a brake locking mechanism on a crane from which the pipe was suspended became disengaged. He instituted a suit in which it was specifically alleged that the crane was manufactured and sold with a defective braking system so that it was unreasonably dangerous to him and that defendant had failed to give appropriate warning to the users of the machine. After the statute of limitations had run he was permitted, over objection, to amend his complaint in order to perfect his claim under §402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. The Supreme Court upheld this amendment, stating:

“Appellant’s claim under §402A was clearly implicit in his allegations of negligence in the design and manufacture of the crane. The principle of strict liability in torts adds nothing to Kuisis’ theory of how the accident occurred; it operates merely to simplify his proof problem by eliminating the issue of negligence from the case. If in negligence actions “we have defined ‘cause of action’ as ‘the negligent act or acts which occasioned the injury’ ”, Saracina v. Cotoia, 417 Pa. 80, 85, 208 A.2d 764 (1965), under section 402A, it is the defect itself which constitutes the cause of action. Thus, it is of no moment that the theories of negligence and strict liability may be subject to different defenses and require different measures of proof. Assuming arguendo that two different causes of action are involved here, for purposes of the statute of limitations, both were stated in the original complaint.” (Footnotes omitted.) Kuisis supports the amendment in this case.

In Webb v. Zern, 422 Pa. 424, 220 A.2d 853 (1966), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court expressly [334]*334adopted section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts, which provides:

“(1) One who sells any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or to his property is subject to liability for physical harm thereby caused to the ultimate user or consumer, or to his property, if
(a) the seller is engaged in the business of selling such a product, and

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337 A.2d 893 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)
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Sanchez v. City of Philadelphia
448 A.2d 588 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1982)
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Saracina v. Cotoia
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Kuisis v. Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corp.
319 A.2d 914 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
34 Pa. D. & C.3d 329, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 184, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/swartz-v-sgl-industries-inc-pactcomplcumber-1984.