Whyham v. Piper Aircraft Corp.

96 F.R.D. 557, 37 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 739, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16778
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 15, 1982
DocketCiv. A. No. 81-1392
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 96 F.R.D. 557 (Whyham 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
Whyham v. Piper Aircraft Corp., 96 F.R.D. 557, 37 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 739, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16778 (M.D. Pa. 1982).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

HERMAN, District Judge.

This action involves the crash of a Piper Aztec airplane off the coast of Scotland on October 24, 1978. The airplane was designed and manufactured by Defendant, Piper Aircraft Corporation [hereinafter Piper], a Pennsylvania corporation, on September 28, 1971. The aircraft was certified on October 7, 1971, and, at approximately the same time, the plane was licensed to Aviation Services International, Inc. to be delivered overseas.

In November 1971, Aviation Services International, Inc. sold the plane to a buyer in Lisbon, Portugal. Apparently Piper had no further dealings or contact with the plane until notified of the accident. The complete chain of ownership, maintenance, and inspection of the plane is not known for the seven years intervening the plane’s construction and the accident. The evidence does indicate, however, that at the time of the accident, Air Navigation and Trading Company Limited [hereinafter Air Navigation] owned the plane and SBV Aero Services Limited [hereinafter Aero] maintained and inspected the plane. Both Air Navigation and Aero are Scottish companies. Additionally, the plane was registered in Great Britain with the registration mark G-BEUJ at the time of the accident.

The accident occurred on October 24, 1978, over the North Sea off the coast of St. Abb’s Head, Berwickshire, Scotland. Jane Leslie Whyham, the decedent who was a Scottish citizen, was the pilot of the aircraft at the time. Allegedly, the opening of the cabin door in flight caused the accident.

On October 9,1979, Plaintiff, Christopher Russell Whyham, decedent’s husband and also a Scottish citizen, filed suit in the Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles on his own behalf and as the administrator of his wife’s estate. Plaintiff alleged causes of action in strict products liability and negligence. Defendant removed the action to the federal district court in California on May 23, 1980, but it was remanded on July 11,1980. On December 2,1980, the California court heard Defendant’s motion to dismiss on the grounds of forum non conveniens, which motion was subsequently granted subject to Defendant’s waiver of the statute of limitations.

Plaintiff refiled his action on February 27, 1981, in the Circuit Court of the 19th Judicial Circuit of Florida, in and for Indian River County, Florida. Defendant again moved to dismiss for forum non conveniens, which was granted without prejudice on June 25, 1981. On July 1, 1981, the parties stipulated that Defendant would not seek to dismiss the action on forum non conveniens grounds if Plaintiff would bring his action in the Court of Common Pleas, Clinton County, Pennsylvania; the United States District Court for the Middle District of [559]*559Pennsylvania; or the appropriate court of jurisdiction in England or Scotland.

Thereafter, Plaintiff filed the present action against Defendant on December 8, 1981. Plaintiff’s complaint alleged causes of action in strict liability and negligence. Defendant filed its answer on December 30, 1981, denying liability and raising several affirmative defenses. Presently, three motions are pending before this court, two of which concern discovery matters. The third motion, filed April 29, 1982, concerns Defendant’s motion to dismiss for failure to join indispensable parties pursuant to Rule 12(b)(7) and Rule 19 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. We will address the motion to dismiss first.

Defendant contends that the present action must be dismissed because Plaintiff has failed to join indispensable parties. Plaintiff’s complaint alleges, in part, that Defendant was negligent in the design, construction, and after-sale service of the Piper aircraft. Defendant argues that Air Navigation and Aero, the Scottish companies that respectively owned and maintained the plane, are necessary and indispensable to determine the issue of liability. Specifically, Defendant claims that Air Navigation and Aero could be partly liable, if not entirely liable, for damages by failing to properly maintain and inspect the plane.

Defendant’s motion to dismiss is governed by the provisions of Rule 19 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The applicable part of Rule 19 states the following:

(a) Persons to be Joined if Feasible. A person who is subject to service of process and whose joinder will not deprive the court of jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action shall be joined as a party in the action if (1) in his absence complete relief cannot be accorded among those already parties, or (2) he claims an interest relating to the subject of the action and is so situated that the disposition of the action in his absence may (i) as a practical matter impair or impede his ability to protect that interest or (ii) leave any of the persons already parties subject to a substantial risk of incurring double, multiple, or otherwise inconsistent obligations by reason of his claimed interest. If he has not been so joined, the court shall order that he be made a party. If he should join as a plaintiff but refuses to do so, he may be made a defendant, or, in a proper case, an involuntary plaintiff. If the joined party objects to venue and his joinder would render the venue of the action improper, he shall be dismissed from the action.
(b) Determination by Court Whenever Joinder not Feasible. If a person as described in subdivision (a)(l)-(2) hereof cannot be made a party, the court shall determine whether in equity and good conscience the action should proceed among the parties before it, or should be dismissed, the absent person being thus regarded as indispensable. The factors to be considered by the court include: first, to what extent a judgment rendered in the person’s absence might be prejudicial to him or those already parties; second, the extent to which, by protective provisions in the judgment, by the shaping of relief, or other measures, the prejudice can be lessened or avoided; third, whether a judgment rendered in the person’s absence will be adequate; fourth, whether the plaintiff will have an adequate remedy if the action is dismissed for nonjoinder.

Rule 19 was amended in 1966 to counterbalance the inequities resulting from previous rigid distinctions between “necessary” and “indispensable” parties. The rule was modified to reflect the concept that the criteria used to determine an indispensable party were not to be applied mechanically or to override compelling substantial interests. Provident Tradesmen Bank and Trust Co. v. Patterson, 390 U.S. 102, 88 S.Ct. 733, 19 L.Ed.2d 936 (1968); Schutten v. Shell Oil Co., 421 F.2d 869 (5th Cir.1970). As the Supreme Court recognized in Provident, the amendment of Rule 19 did not change the principles underlying the joinder of a necessary and indispensable party. Rather, the new Rule 19 emphasized “pragmatic consid[560]*560erations”, contrary to the older version’s emphasis on terms.

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Bluebook (online)
96 F.R.D. 557, 37 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 739, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16778, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whyham-v-piper-aircraft-corp-pamd-1982.