## Facts

- A Martin 404 aircraft was manufactured by Martin-Marietta in 1952 and sold to Eastern Airlines; it later passed through multiple owners, including Ozark Airlines (purchased 1965; sold 1967).
- The aircraft was ultimately used for a charter flight carrying members of the Wichita State University football team.
- On October 2, 1970, the aircraft crashed into a mountain near Silver Plume, Colorado; 32 of 40 persons aboard died.
- Plaintiffs did not claim Martin-Marietta or Ozark caused the crash; they alleged the aircraft was not “crashworthy” and that design features caused deaths or increased injuries after impact.
- Plaintiffs alleged seat attachments failed, seats broke loose and blocked exits, and a post-impact fire contributed to fatalities; they also alleged inadequate fire-protection design.
- Martin-Marietta presented evidence that the aircraft met or exceeded applicable Civil Aeronautics Administration safety regulations when manufactured.
- Ozark asserted it was an air carrier that only incidentally sold aircraft as depreciating assets, not a business engaged in selling aircraft to the public.

## Issues

1. Whether the manufacturer could be liable in negligence or strict products liability for alleged crashworthiness design defects when the aircraft complied with applicable federal regulations at the time of manufacture and the crash occurred many years later.
2. Whether plaintiffs produced sufficient evidence of proximate cause that alleged seat and fire-design defects enhanced injuries or caused deaths independent of the cause of the crash.
3. Whether an intermediate owner/seller that incidentally sells used aircraft is subject to strict products liability as a seller “engaged in the business of selling,” or otherwise liable in negligence or warranty for alleged crashworthiness defects.

## Decision

- The court affirmed summary judgment for Martin-Marietta and Ozark on all theories.
- As to Martin-Marietta, the record did not create a triable issue that the aircraft was defective or unreasonably dangerous when it left the manufacturer’s control, particularly given regulatory compliance and the absence of competent proof that the 1952 design fell below then-accepted standards.
- The court held that later technological improvements in seating and fire protection did not, without more, show the 1952 design was legally defective.
- On the enhanced-injury theory, plaintiffs failed to provide sufficient non-speculative evidence that the alleged seat and fire defects proximately caused additional injury or death beyond the initial crash impact.
- As to Ozark, the court concluded Ozark was not a commercial seller engaged in the business of selling aircraft for strict-liability purposes and that plaintiffs did not show a negligent act or breach of warranty by Ozark that proximately caused or enhanced the injuries.

## Legal Principles

- In design-defect and strict-liability analysis, defectiveness and unreasonable danger are evaluated as of the time the product left the manufacturer’s hands; later advances do not retroactively establish a defect.
- Compliance with applicable safety regulations at the time of manufacture is strong evidence against negligence and against a claim that a product was defective and unreasonably dangerous on the record presented.
- A manufacturer is not an insurer against all accident consequences and is not required to make an aircraft “crash proof”; ordinary use does not treat crashes as a normal operating condition.
- Enhanced-injury (crashworthiness) claims require competent evidence that an alleged defect proximately caused additional harm beyond that attributable to the accident itself.
- Strict products liability generally applies to sellers engaged in the business of selling the product; incidental sales of used equipment by a service enterprise do not, without more, trigger strict seller liability.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed summary judgment because plaintiffs did not present sufficient admissible evidence that the aircraft was defective when manufactured or that alleged seat and fire-design features proximately enhanced injuries, and because the intermediate airline owner was not a commercial seller subject to strict products liability and was not shown to have negligently caused enhanced harm.


Bruce v. Martin-Marietta Corp., 544 F.2d 442 (10th Cir. 1976)