Crouch v. General Elec. Co.

• Decision Date: 14 September 1988
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. J87-0476(L).
• Parties: Stephen G. CROUCH and Jessie Crouch, Plaintiffs, v. GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Mississippi

699 F. Supp. 585

Stephen G. CROUCH and Jessie Crouch, Plaintiffs, v. GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. J87-0476(L).

United States District Court, S.D. Mississippi, Jackson Division.

September 14, 1988.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Thomas W. Tardy, III, Susan L. Runnels, Thomas, Price, Jackson, Miss., Clarence L. McDorman, Jr., Lamar & McDorman, Birmingham, Ala., for plaintiffs.

S. Craig Panter, Michael Allred, Satterfield & Allred, Jackson, Miss., for defendant General Elec.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

TOM S. LEE, District Judge.

This cause is before the court on the amended motion of defendant General Electric Company (GE) for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiffs Stephen G. Crouch and Jessie Crouch timely responded to the motion and the court has considered the memoranda of authorities together with attachments submitted by the parties.

This is a products liability action in which plaintiffs have charged defendant GE with defective design, manufacture, assembly, sale and/or distribution of the helicopter engine, related systems and component parts of a Sikorsky UH-60A Black Hawk helicopter which crashed and injured plaintiff Stephen Crouch. At the time of the crash, which occurred on August 25, 1981 in the vicinity of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Stephen Crouch was serving in the United States Army and assigned to Fort Bragg. As part of his duties, Crouch operated as an instructor pilot for the Black Hawk helicopter in question.

The issue presented on this motion for summary judgment is whether the Crouches' right to maintain this action has been extinguished by the applicable law. The parties do not dispute the facts material to a resolution of that issue. They do, however, disagree as to the legal conclusion to be drawn from the facts.

The court would first note that this lawsuit is not the first to be filed by the Crouches as a result of the helicopter accident. Following the crash, they brought suit in August 1983 against United Technologies Corporation, Norton Company, Associated Aviation Underwriters and Simula, Inc. in a Florida state court. After three years and extensive discovery, that action was dismissed for lack of prosecution on October 6, 1986. No appeal was taken from that dismissal. Subsequently, plaintiffs filed a second suit in Jefferson County, Alabama, naming as defendants GE, United Technologies Corporation and others, and alleging claims for breach of warranty and negligence. That action was dismissed on motion by GE for summary judgment.¹ Finally, the Crouches, on August 21, 1987, brought their claims to this court, alleging negligence, breach of warranty, strict liability in tort and intentional tort, all arising out of the alleged defective design, manufacture, assembly and sale of the engine and related systems and parts.²

The parties agree that while a number of states have had some contact with this litigation, Mississippi is not among them except to the extent that Mississippi is now the forum for this action. Neither the crash nor any of the events leading up to the crash had any connection with the State of Mississippi. None of GE's activities relative to the design, manufacture, assembly, sale or delivery of the helicopter engine occurred in Mississippi and no action taken by anyone in the State of Mississippi caused or contributed to the accident. Moreover, when this suit was filed, plaintiffs were residents of Alabama; they are not now nor were they at any time relative to their claims residents of Mississippi. Neither is GE a Mississippi corporation. Because of the forum state's obvious lack of any connection with the parties or the events giving rise to this lawsuit, this court is required to determine which state's substantive law will apply.

In this diversity action, the court is bound to apply the law of the forum state, Mississippi, including Mississippi conflict-of-law rules. Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Electric Mfg. Co., 313 U.S. 487, 61 S.Ct. 1020, 85 L.Ed. 1477 (1941). Under Mississippi choice-of-laws principles, application of the "center of gravity" or "most substantial relationship" test determines the substantive law applicable to actions brought in Mississippi. Mitchell v. Craft, 211 So.2d 509, 515 (Miss.1968) (adopting center of gravity test). Utilizing this analysis, a Mississippi court will apply the law of the state which has "the most substantial contacts with the parties, and the subject matter of the action." Boardman v. United Services Automobile Ass'n, 470 So.2d 1024, 1031 (Miss.1985)).

The court trying the action applies the law of the place which has the most significant relationship to the event and parties, or which, because of the relationship or contact with the event and parties, has the greatest concern with the specific issues with respect to the liabilities and rights of the parties to the litigation.

Mitchell, 211 So.2d at 515 (quoting Craig v. Columbus Compress & Warehouse Co., 210 So.2d 645 (Miss.1968)).

Since the law of a single state will not necessarily control every issue in a particular case, the center of gravity test must be applied to each question presented, with the result that in some instances the law of more than one state will be applied in a given lawsuit. Boardman, 470 So.2d at 1031; Price v. Litton Systems, Inc., 784 F.2d 600, 605 (5th Cir.1986) (quoting Boardman). In this action, plaintiffs allege four counts: (1) negligent, wanton or willfull design, manufacture, assembly, sale and distribution of the helicopter engine and related systems; (2) breach of express and/or implied warranty; (3) sale of a defective product in an unreasonably dangerous condition, i.e., strict liability in tort; and (4) gross, wanton and reckless conduct. While each of these claims are premised on an alleged defect in the helicopter engine and systems, three arise under tort law and one under contract or warranty law.

PLAINTIFFS' TORT CLAIMS

In Mitchell v. Craft, the Mississippi Supreme Court adopted section 145 of the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws as governing choice-of-law for tort actions. Section 145 provides:

(1) The rights and liabilities of the parties with respect to an issue in tort are determined by the local law of the state which, as to that issue, has the most significant relationship to the occurrence and the parties under the principles stated in § 6.

(2) Contacts to be taken into account in applying the principles of § 6 to determine the law applicable to an issue include:

(a) the place where the injury occurred,

(b) the place where the conduct causing the injury occurred,

(c) the domicil, residence, nationality, place of incorporation and place of business of the parties, and

(d) the place where the relationship, if any, between the parties is centered.

Although the parties agree as to the applicable conflicts analysis and as to the appropriate characterization of plaintiffs' claims, it is as to the proper application of these factors that they part company. Defendant contends that North Carolina substantive law is applicable to the Crouches' tort claims. The Crouches urge, however, that Massachusetts law applies.

Clearly, under the first factor to be considered, the injury occurred in North Carolina which is where the accident happened. On the issue of where the conduct causing the injury occurred, the following facts are undisputed. The Lynn Production Division of GE's Aircraft Engine component designed and manufactured the engine of the Black Hawk helicopter involved in the accident. The engine was manufactured pursuant to an award/contract with the United States Army Aviation Research and Development Command. Negotiations for this contract occurred between GE personnel in Ohio and Massachusetts and United States Army personnel in Missouri; the contract was actually executed at St. Louis, Missouri.

GE's Aircraft Engine component is an operating division of GE; its headquarters and certain manufacturing facilities are located at Evendale, Ohio. The Lynn Production Division is a major facility of GE's Aircraft Engine component and is located at Lynn, Massachusetts. The design and manufacture of the engines occurred at the Lynn Production Division facility in Lynn, Massachusetts and the engines were sold and delivered to the United States Army at Lynn, Massachusetts. The United States Army transported the engines to the facilities of United Technologies Corporation at Stratford, Connecticut, where United Technologies manufactured the helicopter involved in the accident. There, the engine at issue was installed in the helicopter. United Technologies sold and delivered the manufactured helicopters to the United States Army at Stratford, Connecticut, following which the helicopter in which Stephen Crouch was injured was assigned by the United States Army to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where it remained in use until the accident. While conduct relative to the engine at issue is traceable to a number of states, the conduct charged by plaintiffs to have caused their injuries, the alleged defective design and manufacture of the engine, occurred in Lynn, Massachusetts at the Lynn Production Division.³ See Price v. Litton Systems, 784 F.2d at 603-04.

GE is incorporated and has its principal place of business in New York and its general headquarters in Connecticut. At the time of the accident, Stephen Crouch was assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and had been since August 1979. That is, both plaintiffs had been living in North Carolina for approximately two years prior to the accident. Nevertheless, plaintiffs deny having been residents of North Carolina, stating that although Stephen Crouch was in fact assigned to Fort Bragg, Tennessee was their state of legal residence. Under the facts presented and for this court's purposes, the fact that plaintiffs may have claimed Tennessee as their state of legal residence does not impact upon the...