Tillman v. Raytheon Co.

2013 Ark. 474, 430 S.W.3d 698, 2013 WL 6122298, 2013 Ark. LEXIS 571
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedNovember 21, 2013
DocketCV-12-261
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 2013 Ark. 474 (Tillman v. Raytheon Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tillman v. Raytheon Co., 2013 Ark. 474, 430 S.W.3d 698, 2013 WL 6122298, 2013 Ark. LEXIS 571 (Ark. 2013).

Opinion

DONALD L. CORBIN, Justice.

| Appellant, Davis Tillman, as special administrator of the estates of Rodney Nickle Tillman and Rebecca Ann Tillman, deceased, appeals the amended order of the Garland County Circuit Court granting summary judgment to Appellees, Raytheon Company, Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (“HBC”), Hawker Beechcraft Incorporated, and Beech Aircraft Corporation (collectively “the Beech defendants” or “Appellees”). For reversal, Appellant contends that there are genuine issues of material fact in dispute as to whether the fraud exception to the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 (“GARA”), Pub.L. No. 103-298, 108 Stat. 1552 (1994) (codified at 49 U.S.C. § 40101 (2006), note), applies and asj^to whether GARA’s limitation period began anew by Appellees’ publication of an allegedly defective flight manual. In addition, Appellant contends that GARA is unconstitutional in violation of the Due Process Clause and Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Jurisdiction of this case involving a fatal airplane crash is properly in this court, as it presents an issue of first impression for this court concerning interpretation of the federal statute, GARA. Ark. Sup.Ct. R. l-2(b)(l) (2013). We conclude that the circuit court did not err in granting summary judgment and affirm.

The following facts are taken from the allegations in the fifth amended complaint. Appellant’s decedents hired Gregory L. Secrest to fly them from Hot Springs, Arkansas, to Nashville, Tennessee, on November 24, 2008. Mr. Secrest was the owner and pilot of a 1979 Beechcraft 95 B55 Baron airplane, Serial Number TC-2198 (“the subject aircraft” or “the Beech Baron”). Mr. Secrest and his two passengers departed Hot Springs Memorial Field at approximately 9:11 a.m., and the flight proceeded under instrument flight rules because of prevailing weather conditions. During the flight, the left engine of the Beech Baron lost power, and the light twin-engine plane went into a flat spin and then crashed into a wooded area near Whites Creek, Tennessee. All persons on board, the pilot and two passengers, died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.

Appellant filed suit in the Garland County Circuit Court on behalf of his decedents’ estates alleging claims of wrongful death based on negligence and products liability. The complaint was ultimately amended several times and named numerous defendants, including the pilot, Appellees as manufacturer of the subject aircraft, as well as many other defendants hwho manufactured, sold, or installed parts on the subject aircraft subsequent to its original manufacture in 1978. With respect to Ap-pellees, the complaint alleged that they negligently designed the subject aircraft due to its propensity to engage in an unrecoverable flat spin and that Appellees misrepresented, concealed, or withheld material information from the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) about the flat-spin characteristic of the Beech Baron. The complaint also alleged that Appellees negligently failed to include in its revised flight manual the most current instructions on spin avoidance and control.

Appellees moved for summary judgment on the basis that Appellant’s suit was barred by the 18-year statute of repose set forth in GARA. Appellant responded to the motion, contending that genuine issues of material fact existed as to the applicability of the fraud exception to GARA and to the new-part rolling provision of GARA; alternatively, Appellant responded that GARA is unconstitutional. After a hearing, the circuit court entered an amended order granting summary judgment to Ap-pellees on the basis that Appellant’s claims were barred by GARA and that neither the fraud exception or the new-part rolling provision of GARA applied. In addition, the circuit court found in its amended order that Raytheon Co., Hawker Beechcraft Inc., and Beech Aircraft Corp. were improperly named defendants as they did not design or manufacture the subject aircraft and could have no liability to Appellant even if separate defendant and Appellee HBC were liable. The amended order also dismissed with prejudice the cross-claims against the Beech defendants. Finally, the amended order contained a certificate, pursuant to Rule 54(b) of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure, stating that considerations of judicial economy and fundamental fairness to the |4litigants of preventing duplicate trials justified the entry of a final order with regard to the summary judgment granted to the Beech defendants.

Appellant has timely appealed the order granting summary judgment and raises three points for reversal. Appellant does not challenge the circuit court’s findings that HBC was the only properly named defendant and that GARA applies here and operates to bar this suit. Rather, Appellant challenges the circuit court’s findings as to the fraud exception and the new-part rolling provision of GARA. Appellant also raises a constitutional challenge to GARA.

Prior to addressing the merits of the arguments on appeal, however, a very brief review of the federal statute in question is helpful. A statute of repose proceeds on the basis that it is unfair to make someone defend an action long after a product is sold; it declares that “nobody should be liable at all after a certain amount of time has passed, and that it is unjust to allow an action to proceed after that.” Lyon v. Agusta S.P.A., 252 F.3d 1078, 1086 (9th Cir.2001). GARA establishes a federal statute of repose, and was enacted by Congress in 1994 to revitalize the general aviation industry by protecting manufacturers from the long tail of products-liability lawsuits arising out of accidents involving general aviation aircraft or component parts that are more than 18 years old. See id. at 1084 (citing H.R.Rep. No. 103-525, pt. I, at 1-4 (1994), reprinted in 1994 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1638); see also Wright v. Bond-Air, Ltd., 930 F.Supp. 300 (E.D.Mich.1996). GARA is a classic statute of repose, as it does not run from the date of injury but from what is effectively the date of the first transfer from the manufacturer. Lyon, 252 F.3d 1078. Unless one of GARA’s four exceptions applies, or unless | athe new-part rolling provision applies, GARA “supersedes any state law to the extent that such law permits a civil action ... to be brought after the applicable limitation period.” See Wright, 930 F.Supp. at 303 (quoting in pertinent part GARA § 2(d)).

One exception to GARA is at issue in this case, as is the rolling provision. The exception at issue here is sometimes referred to as the “fraud exception” or the “knowing misrepresentation” exception. The 18-year limitation of GARA does not apply if plaintiff pleads with specificity facts and proves that (1) the manufacturer knowingly misrepresented, concealed or withheld from the FAA required information that is material and relevant to the performance, maintenance, or operation of the allegedly defective aircraft or component part; and (2) the misrepresentation, concealment, or withholding is causally related to the harm allegedly suffered. GARA § 2(b)(1); see Wright, 930 F.Supp. 300. “It is not sufficient for a plaintiff to allege that the aircraft was negligently designed. The plaintiff must offer evidence that the defendant knowingly misrepresented or concealed or withheld this design defect in communications with the FAA.” Robinson v.

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Bluebook (online)
2013 Ark. 474, 430 S.W.3d 698, 2013 WL 6122298, 2013 Ark. LEXIS 571, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tillman-v-raytheon-co-ark-2013.