Court Opinion

ID: 8956272
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-27 09:15:39.47221+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:10:05.238714
License: Public Domain

STAPLETON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Finding the Superior Court’s consistent reading of Section 5536 consistent both with its text and all cited precedent of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, I feel constrained by Erie and its progeny to hold that a manufacturer and designer of an oven intended for incorporation into the structure of a glass molding plant is protected by statute. Since I agree with my colleagues that Section 5536 is a statute of repose and that the district judge did not abuse his discretion in denying sanctions, I would affirm the district court with respect to the claims against Despatch.
Given the rationale of the Superior Court in Catanzaro v. Wasco Products, Inc., 339 Pa.Super. 481, 489 A.2d 262 (1985) and Mitchell v. United Elevator Co., Inc., 290 Pa.Super. 476, 434 A.2d 1243 (1981), I believe the disposition of the claims against Eclipse and Honeywell should turn upon whether their component parts were specifically designed for this purpose or were shelf items intended for many purposes and used here only because of a choice by Despatch, an issue that it would serve no purpose to pursue further here.