Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-89-05004/USCOURTS-ca10-89-05004-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Tony P. Moore
Appellant
Signode Corporation
Appellee
Weldotron Corporation
Appellee

Document Text:

Fl LED 

tJ, ,ired Scates Court of Appeals 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS , .. :1,..,"'th r i,-r,_,it 

TONY P. MOORE, 

Plaintiff-Appellant, 

v. 

SIGNODE CORPORATION, a 

Delaware corporation, 

Defendant-Appellee, 

WELDOTRON CORPORATION, a 

New Jersey corporation, 

Defendant. 

TENTH CIRCUIT MAR - 6 1990 

&OBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

No. 89-5004 

(D.C. No. 82-C-336-E) 

( N. D. Ok la. ) 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT* , 

Before HOLLOWAY, Chief Judge, SETH and MCWILLIAMS, Circuit Judges. 

After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel 

has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially 

assist the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 

34(a); Tenth Cir. R. 34.1.9. The cause is therefore ordered 

submitted without oral argument. 

*This order and judgment has no precedential value and shall not 

be cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, except 

for purposes of establishing the doctrines of the law of the case, 

res judicata, or collateral estoppel. 10th Cir. R. 36.3. 

Appellate Case: 89-5004 Document: 01019966053 Date Filed: 03/06/1990 Page: 1 
Plaintiff sought damages in this diversity action for 

personal injuries against defendants Signode Corporation and 

Weldotron Corporation under a theory of products liability. 

Plaintiff appeals from an order of the district court granting 

summary judgment to defendant Signode Corporation. We affirm. 

Plaintiff was injured when his pant leg and foot were drawn 

into a conveyor belt at the plant where he worked. The conveyor 

belt was being used in conjunction with a Pallet Pak Shrink 

Tunnel. Both the conveyor belt and the Shrink Tunnel were 

manufactured and designed by Weldotron. Signode sold the Shrink 

Tunnel to plaintiff's employer in 1971, but was not involved in 

the sale of the conveyor belt that injured plaintiff. The 

conveyor belt that injured plaintiff was purchased directly by 

plaintiff's employer from Weldotron. 

Plaintiff admits that it offered no proof that the Shrink 

Tunnel was defective standing alone. Instead, plaintiff asserts 

that the Shrink Tunnel, the conveyor belt, and the control and 

warning devices attached thereto must be considered together as a 

"system" or "package" of which the Shrink Tunnel is a component or 

piece. Plaintiff asserts that Signode is liable as the 

distributor of a component of the defective "system'' that caused 

plaintiff's injuries. 

Plaintiff fails to cite a single authority, from any 

jurisdiction, in support of this quite novel interpretation of the 

scope of products liability. Plaintiff seeks to impose liability 

on Signode for injuries caused by a machine it neither 

-2-

Appellate Case: 89-5004 Document: 01019966053 Date Filed: 03/06/1990 Page: 2 
manufactured nor marketed simply because that machine was being 

used in conjunction with the Shrink Tunnel. Signode had 

absolutely nothing to do with the design or assembly of the 

"system" devised by plaintiff's employer. Signode merely acted as 

the distributor for one non-defective component of that system. 

No material issue of fact was raised by the discovery nor 

otherwise. Plaintiff in substance acknowledges there are no fact 

issues. The summary judgment was proper under the Rule, the 

prevailing doctrine and Oklahoma law. 

Accordingly, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED. 

-3-

Entered for the Court 

Oliver Seth 

Circuit Judge 

Appellate Case: 89-5004 Document: 01019966053 Date Filed: 03/06/1990 Page: 3