L. B. Foster Company, Inc. v. Melvin R. Hurnblad and Grace M. Hurnblad, Husband and Wife

This is a diversity suit for damages resulting from an automobile accident which occurred at Tacoma, Washington. The plaintiffs are Melvin R. Hurnblad and his wife, Grace M. Hurnblad. They were injured and their automobile was damaged on December 9, 1963, when the car was struck at a Tacoma intersection by a combination tractor-trailer loaded with steel rails and splicing.

Plaintiffs named, as defendants, Sim Knight, who drove the tractor-trailer, L. B. McGowan who, with Knight, owned the tractor-trailer, Transport Supply Company (Transport Supply), which arranged to have Knight haul the steel, L. B. Foster Company, Inc. (Foster), which had sold the steel and had contracted with Transport Supply to have it hauled, and several others.

After a jury verdict for plaintiffs, the trial court entered judgment against the named . defendants. Foster alone appeals.

Foster is a steel warehousing and fabricating company with its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a district office in San Francisco, California. The company maintains a storage yard at San Leandro in space leased from Bigge Drayage Company. In late November Foster sold the steel in question, which weighed more than…