Opinion ID: 3047759
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Dismissal of System Stecko

Text: Appellants’ challenge of the District Court’s sua sponte grant of summary judgment in favor of third-party defendant Stecko is moot. On January 5, 2007, the District Court sua sponte granted summary judgment for Stecko on Anchor’s contribution claims against Stecko. Anchor did not oppose the summary judgment, as its expert had found no manufacturing defects in the Stecko valve components.4 Anchor does not now 4 Stecko has filed an unopposed motion to file a surreply brief. That motion is granted. 23 appeal the grant of summary judgment in favor of Stecko. Appellants argue, as they did before the District Court, that because their expert found a defect in the Stecko valve there was a genuine issue of material fact precluding the dismissal of Stecko because the jury could find that the Stecko valve was defective and caused the failure resulting in Meadows’ injury. Appellants are here seeking to admit evidence against a party they did not sue in support of a claim abandoned by the party who raised it. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 14, a plaintiff cannot recover against a third-party defendant unless the plaintiff amends his complaint and files a direct action against the third-party defendant. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 14(b); see also George v. Brehm, 246 F. Supp. 242, 246 (W.D. Pa. 1965). Here, despite being given an opportunity to do so, appellants failed to amend their complaint or to seek to amend their complaint out of time to bring an action against Stecko under Rule 14. We therefore need not consider whether the District Court should have taken Sokalski’s testimony into account in granting summary judgment for Stecko against Anchor. Because we affirmed the Court’s exclusion of Sokalski’s testimony and appellants have not filed a claim against Stecko or amended their complaint to bring an action against Stecko, the issue is moot. For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the District Court in its entirety. 24