British Airways Board, 1 v. The Boeing Company

Appellant BOAC appeals from an order of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington granting appellee The Boeing Company (“Boeing”) summary judgment in a suit arising out of the crash of a Boeing 707 near Mt. Fuji, Japan, on March 5, 1966. BOAC, which owned and operated the plane, had sued Boeing for damages, alleging negligent design and manufacture, breach of express and implied warranties, and strict tort liability. On appeal, BOAC contends that the district judge should not have granted summary judgment, because there existed a “genuine issue of material fact” which remained to be resolved at trial, and because all discovery in the case had not been completed. In addition, it claims that the change of venue from the Central District of California to the Western District of Washington was improvidently granted. We hereby affirm the decision of the trial court.

HISTORY OF THE CASE

This suit was initially filed on May 18, 1973 in the Southern District of New York. After Boeing raised an affirmative defense based on the statute of limitations, BOAC filed a substantially identical “protective” suit on November 9, 1973 in the Central District of…