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Davis v. Cessna Aircraft Corp.5/16/1991
Ariz. 525, 526, 591 P.2d 1302, 1303 (1979); see Indiana Harbor Belt R. Co., 860 F.2d at 1444-45.
A single claimant presents multiple claims for relief . . . when his possible recoveries are more than one in number and not mutually exclusive or, stated another way, when the facts give rise to more than one legal right or cause of action. . . . However, when a claimant
presents a number of legal theories, but will be permitted to recover only on one of them, his bases for recovery are mutually exclusive, or simply presented in the alternative, and he has only a single claim for relief for purposes of rule 54(b).
Musa, 130 Ariz. at 313, 636 P.2d at 91, quoting Wright and Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil ยง 2657 (1973).
The question presented in this case is whether the order dismissing the plaintiffs' strict liability claim against Cessna disposed of a separate claim when a negligence claim arising from the same conduct remained. If not, the judgment was not final and could not be made appealable simply by the inclusion of Rule 54(b) language. The plaintiffs assert that the strict liability claim and the negligence claim present different issues so that we will not be required to decide the same issues again if there is an appeal subsequent to this one. Cessna, on the other hand, argues that the trial court's dismissal of the strict liability claim only eliminated one of the plaintiffs' theories of recovery and did not resolve a separate claim.
The opinion in Indiana Harbor Belt R. Co. is instructive. Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad (IHB) sued American Cyanamid (Cyanamid) for cleanup costs after one of Cyanamid's tank cars leaked a hazardous chemical on IHB's property. One count of IHB's complaint asserted that Cyanamid was negligent in three ways: (1) in loading the chemical into a defective railroad car, (2) by failing to properly secure the car to prevent leakage and (3) by failing to inspect the car before releasing it to the railway company which transported it to IHB's property. Another count asserted strict liability for Cyanamid's participation in the ultra-hazardous activity of transporting the chemical in interstate commerce. The district court granted IHB's motion for summary judgment on the strict liability claim and certified the judgment under Rule 54(b), Fed.R.Civ.P. The court of appeals dismissed Cyanamid's appeal, holding that there was no finality and offering the following insight:
have adopted a standard which focuses on the degree of factual overlap between the issue certified for appeal and the issues remaining in the district court. "Two distinct claims are but one for purposes of Rule 54(b) if they have a 'significant factual overlap.'" . . . Subsumed within the significant factual overlap theory is the rule that a claimant who has set forth a number of legal theories in support of only one possible recovery has stated only one claim for relief.
860 F.2d at 1444-45 (citations omitted).
The reasoning behind the decision in Indiana Harbor Belt R. Co. Is compelling when applied to this case because the plaintiffs' strict liability and negligence counts are more factually related than they were in Indiana Harbor Belt R. Co. In the present case, the negligence and strict liability both lie in Cessna's placing an allegedly dangerously defective product on the market. The plaintiffs' strict liability count against Cessna is not a separate claim from the negligence count, but merely a separate, alternative theory of recovery. The plaintiffs are limited to a single recov
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