FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

ASTRIUM S.A.S.; ASTRIUM, LTD., 

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

No. 03-55499 v.

D.C. No. TRW, INC.; PILKINGTON OPTRONICS,  CV-00-01169-DOC INC.; CORNING NETOPTIX; OFC

CORPORATION; OPTICAL FILTER

CORPORATION,

Defendants-Appellees. 

ASTRIUM S.A.S., 

Plaintiff,

v.

TRW, INC.,

Defendant, No. 03-56213

v. D.C. No.

PILKINGTON OPTRONICS, INC.,  CV-00-01169-DOC

Third-party-plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

FOKKER SPACE B.V.; DUTCH SPACE

HOLDING B.V.; FOKKER SPACE &

SYSTEMS B.V.,

Third-party-defendants-Appellees. 

9125
ASTRIUM S.A.S., 

Plaintiff,

v.

TRW, INC.,

Defendant,

No. 03-56214 v.

D.C. No. CORNING NETOPTIX; OPTICAL FILTER  CV-00-01169-DOC CORPORATION,

Third-party-plaintiffs-Appellants,

v.

FOKKER SPACE B.V.; DUTCH SPACE

HOLDING B.V.; FOKKER SPACE &

SYSTEMS B.V.,

Third-party-defendants-Appellees. 

ASTRIUM S.A.S., 

Plaintiff,

v.

TRW, INC.,

Defendant,

No. 03-56378 v.

D.C. No. CORNING NETOPTIX; OPTICAL FILTER  CV-00-01169-DOC CORPORATION; PILKINGTON

OPTRONICS, INC., ORDER

Third-party-plaintiffs-Appellees,

v.

FOKKER SPACE B.V.; DUTCH SPACE

HOLDING B.V.,

Third-party-defendants-Appellants. 

9126 ASTRIUM S.A.S. v. TRW, INC.
Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Central District of California

David O. Carter, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted

July 24, 2006—Pasadena, California

Filed August 9, 2006

Before: Ferdinand F. Fernandez, Pamela Ann Rymer and

Richard R. Clifton, Circuit Judges.

COUNSEL

Julian Brew, Kaye Scholer, LLP, Los Angeles, California;

Steven S. Rosenthal (argued), Kay Scholer, LLP, Washington,

DC, for Astrium, S.A.S. and Astrium, Ltd., appellants. 

Robert J. Becher and Fred G. Bennett (argued), Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP, Los Angeles, California,

for Northrop Grumman Space & Mission Systems Corp. (formerly known as TRW INC.); Mark R. Irvine and James W.

Hunt (argued), Mendes & Mount, LLP, Los Angeles, California, for Pilkington Optronics, Inc.; Ronald A. McIntire and

Chung H. Han, Perkins Coie, LLP, Santa Monica, California,

for Corning Netoptix, Inc., OFC Corporation, and Optical Filter Corporation, appellees. 

Diane W. Wilson, Condon & Forsyth, LLP, New York, New

York, for Fokker Space B.V. and Dutch Space Holding B.V.,

third-party-defendants-appellees. 

ORDER

Astrium, S.A.S. and Astrium, Ltd. (collectively Astrium)

ASTRIUM S.A.S. v. TRW, INC. 9127
appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment on

Astrium’s tort claims against a number of subcontractors1

after the alleged failure of solar arrays used to power telecommunications satellites.2

 We dispose of the issues raised therein

in a memorandum disposition in which we affirm the district

court’s ultimate decision in Astrium I. 

However, we note that the discussion of the merits in the

district court’s published order was based upon a decision of

the California Court of Appeal as set forth in Robinson Helicopter Co., Inc. v. Dana Corp., 129 Cal. Rptr. 2d 682, 684,

697-99 (Ct. App. 2003). That decision was vacated by the

California Supreme Court when it granted review. In fact, the

decision of the California Supreme Court reached a conclusion opposite to that of the California Court of Appeal. See

Robinson Helicopter Co., Inc. v. Dana Corp., 34 Cal. 4th 979,

993-94, 102 P.3d 268, 276, 22 Cal. Rptr. 3d 352, 362 (2004).

Therefore, to avoid confusion, we vacate the portion of the

district court’s order which set forth the reasons for the district court’s decision. That portion appears in part III of

Astrium I, 254 F. Supp. 2d at 1134-40. 

District court order VACATED in part. 

1Those are TRW, Inc.; and Corning Netoptix, Inc., Optical Filter Corporation, and OFC Corp. (collectively OFC). 

2

See Astrium, S.A.S. v. TRW, Inc., 254 F. Supp. 2d 1129 (C.D. Cal.

2003) (Astrium I). 

9128 ASTRIUM S.A.S. v. TRW, INC.



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