Boyle v. United Technologies Corp.
United States Supreme Court
487 U.S. 500 (1988)
A Marine died when his helicopter, built under a government contract by United Technologies Corp. (UTC) (defendant), crashed; the escape hatch matched the government's own specifications, but the Marine's father, Boyle (plaintiff), argued Virginia state law imposed a stricter duty of care on the hatch's design that UTC breached. The district court found for Boyle under Virginia law, and the court of appeals reversed, also applying state law but reaching the opposite result; Boyle appealed to the Supreme Court to resolve which law should govern.
Whether state tort law imposing a stricter duty of care on a government contractor than required by its federal contract is displaced by federal interests when applied to claims against that contractor.