Rockwell Intern. Corp. v. Costruzioni Aeronautiche

• Decision Date: 22 December 1982
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 81-3984.
• Citation: 553 F. Supp. 328
• Parties: ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL CORP. v. COSTRUZIONI AERONAUTICHE GIOVANNI AGUSTA, S.p.A. and S.N.F.A.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

553 F. Supp. 328

ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL CORP. v. COSTRUZIONI AERONAUTICHE GIOVANNI AGUSTA, S.p.A. and S.N.F.A.

Civ. A. No. 81-3984.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

December 22, 1982.

David L. Steck, Rawle & Henderson, Philadelphia, Pa., Joseph K. Powers, Bigham, Englar, Jones & Houston, New York City, for plaintiff.

James J. Donohue, and Mark L. Parisi, White & Williams, Philadelphia, Pa., Elliott M. Kroll, Kroll, Killarney, Pomerantz & Cameron, New York City, for defendant S.N.F.A.

Richard L. Goerwitz, Jr., Swartz, Campbell & Detweiler, Philadelphia, Pa., for Rudolph V. Pino, Speiser & Krause, P.C., New York City, for defendant Agusta.

MEMORANDUM

GILES, District Judge.

This products liability suit arises from a helicopter crash over the Ohio River on January 16, 1981. The owner of the helicopter, Rockwell International Corporation ("Rockwell"), sues both the manufacturer, Costrozioni Aeronautiche Giovanni Agusta, S.p.A. ("Agusta") and the maker of an allegedly defective component part, SNFA. Both defendants are foreign corporations. Agusta has voluntarily submitted to the jurisdiction of this court, but SNFA moves to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. For the reasons outlined below, SNFA's motion to dismiss shall be denied.

FACTS

SNFA, a French corporation with no apparent place of business in the United States, designs and manufactures ball bearing assemblies. These assemblies, along with accessories and replacement parts are sold by SNFA to its Italian subsidiary, Somecat, S.p.A. Somecat is SNFA's exclusive distributor in Italy, who, in turn, sells the ball bearings and replacement parts to Agusta which is also an Italian corporation.¹ Agusta incorporates custom made SNFA bearings into its A-109 helicopter. Agusta then sells the helicopters to its United States distributor, Atlantic Aviation Corporation in Wilmington, Delaware. The chain of distribution is completed when Atlantic sells to the ultimate consumer. Replacement parts for the ball bearing assemblies go through the same chain of distribution.²

Rockwell, a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Pennsylvania,³ purchased an A-109 helicopter from ... Atlantic in October of 1977. Almost a year later, Rockwell bought seven replacement tail rotor drive shaft bearings from Atlantic. These bearings were designed, tested and manufactured by SNFA and had gone through the chain of distribution previously outlined. They were installed in the helicopter on April 2, 1979. On January 16, 1981, the bearings and the rotor drive shaft failed while the helicopter was flying over the Ohio River. The pilot was unable to maintain directional control and the helicopter crashed. Rockwell sues defendants under theories of negligence and the breach of express and implied warranties.

The ball bearings manufactured by SNFA are custom designed for the Agusta A-109 helicopter. They cannot be used in any other helicopter model. Agusta buys all bearings for the A-109 from SNFA. During the design and testing of the ball bearings, SNFA worked closely with Agusta engineers and was aware that the A-109 helicopter was targeted for the executive corporate transport market in the United States and Europe. SNFA has advertised its bearings in the World Aviation Directory, a publication widely circulated throughout Europe, Canada and the United States. In addition, it has an exclusive agreement with Air Supply Company, a division of Garrett Corporation, located in California. This agreement allows Air Supply to promote and sell SNFA's precision bearings throughout the continental United States. SNFA has also sold turbine engine bearings directly to General Electric Corporation and Garrett Corporation. The engines into which these bearings are incorporated are marketed throughout the United States.

DISCUSSION

In deciding SNFA's motion to dismiss for want of personal jurisdiction, I must accept as true all of plaintiff's wellplead allegations of fact, viewing all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. See Hollinger v. Wanger Min. Equipment Co., 667 F.2d 402, 405 (3d Cir.1981). See also Empire Abrasive Equipment Corp. v. H.H. Watson, 567 F.2d 554, 557 (3d Cir.1977); Van Naarden v. Grassi, 488 F.Supp. 720, 722 (E.D.Pa.1980). Once a defendant properly challenges the court's personal jurisdiction, the plaintiff has the ultimate burden of proving that the non-resident defendant's activities with the forum state permit the exercise of jurisdiction. See Strick Corp. v. A.J.F. Warehouse Distributors, Inc., 532 F.Supp. 951, 953 (E.D.Pa.1982); Boysen v. Treadway Inn of Lake Harmony, Inc., 53 F.R.D. 96, 98 (E.D. Pa.1971), aff'd per curiam, 463 F.2d 247 (3d Cir.1972).

Rule 4(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure permits a federal district court to exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident to the extent allowed by the law of the state where the court sits. Western Union Telegraph Co. v. T.S.I. Ltd., 545 F.Supp. 329, 332 (D.N.J.1982). Pennsylvania's long arm statute, Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. tit. 42 § 5322 (Purdon 1981) permits the exercise of personal jurisdiction "to the fullest extent allowed under the Constitution of the United States and may be based on the most minimum contact" with Pennsylvania allowed under the Constitution. Pa. Cons.Stat. tit. 42 § 5322(b). Where the state long-arm statute is written so broadly, the Third Circuit has failed to first examine the precise statutory language, instead focusing directly upon the constitutional due process requirements. Carty v. Beech Aircraft Corp., 679 F.2d 1051, 1058 (3d Cir. 1982); DeJames v. Magnificance Carriers Inc., 654 F.2d 280, 284 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1085, 102 S.Ct. 642, 70 L.Ed.2d 620 (1981) (interpreting New Jersey long arm rule); Western Union, 545 F.Supp. at 332. Therefore, I must determine whether SNFA has sufficient "minimum contacts" with Pennsylvania "such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend `traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.'" International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316, 66 S.Ct. 154, 158, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945) (quoting Miliken v. Meyer, 311 U.S. 457, 463, 61 S.Ct. 339, 342, 85 L.Ed. 278 (1940)).

Plaintiff's cause of action arises out of a specific forum-related act. The thrust of the inquiry is upon whether there are sufficient contacts with the forum state arising from that "transaction" so as to justify the assertion of personal jurisdiction over the defendant. See Reliance Steel Products Co. v. Watson, Ess, Marshall & Enggas, 675 F.2d 587, 588 (3d Cir.1982). In order to conclude that the exercise of jurisdiction is permissible, three criteria must be satisfied. See Lacovara v. Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith, Inc., et al., 551 F.Supp. 601 at 603 (E.D.Pa.1982). First, the cause of action must arise from defendant's activity within the state. I find that this element is satisfied. Rockwell's cause of action is traced from the sale of the ball bearings by SNFA, through its chain of distribution, to the apparent malfunction that allegedly caused the helicopter to crash. The sale,⁴ malfunction and injury all occurred within Pennsylvania.

The second requirement is that the non-resident defendant purposely availed itself of the privilege of acting within the forum, thus invoking the benefits and protections of the forum's laws. See Hanson v. Denkla, 357 U.S. 235, 246, 78 S.Ct. 1228, 1235, 2 L.Ed.2d 1283 (1958). Specifically, a corporation must engage in activities within the forum such that it is reasonably foreseeable⁵ that it could be "haled into court there." World-Wide Volkswagen v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 297, 100 S.Ct. 559, 567, 62 L.Ed.2d 490 (1980). As the Court noted in World-Wide Volkswagen, when the sale of a product is not an isolated occurrence, but comes about through the effort of the manufacturer to enter a market in other geographic areas, it is reasonable to subject that entity to suit where the allegedly defective merchandise has caused injury. Where a defendant has injected its product into the "stream of commerce" with the desire and expectation that it would be purchased in the forum state, the reach of due process is not exceeded when that state asserts in personam jurisdiction. See World-Wide Volkswagen, 444 U.S. at 297-98, 100 S.Ct. at 567, citing Gray v. American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp., 22 Ill.2d 432, 176 N.E.2d 761 (1961).

Defendant argues that it has not purposefully availed itself of the privileges of conducting business within Pennsylvania. It maintains that it has confined its sales to the European market and that it is solely Agusta, which has purposefully availed itself of the United States and Pennsylvania market. This contention misses the mark. While SNFA's involvement in the sale and distribution of the ball bearing may be once or twice removed from Agusta's final sale to Rockwell, SNFA's purposeful availment, critical in the minimum contacts analysis, actually took place at an earlier point. That occurred when SNFA decided to enter and exploit the international "executive corporate transport market," and toward that end, began to work closely with Agusta's engineers to develop the ball bearings for the A-109 with the knowledge that the A-109 was to be marketed throughout the continental United States. Moreover, because the ball bearings are custom-made, SNFA intended its products to be an inseparable part of the marketing plan of Agusta.

In World-Wide Volkswagen, the Supreme Court drew a distinction between a local or regionalized dealer and a manufacturer or major distributor. Except for a rare sale, the local dealer generally confines the market he serves to a limited area. However, the marketing territory and the sale of a product by a manufacturer or distributor is not intended to be so confined. The sale of its product to a distant state is not simply an isolated occurrence, but instead, arises from the...