Erkins v. Case Power & Equipment Co.
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
164 F.R.D. 31 (D.N.J. 1995)
A worker died after falling from a backhoe manufactured by Case (defendant) while working for a subcontractor chain (Fitzpatrick, then ECRACOM, then O'Beirne) on a construction project; Erkins (plaintiff), the decedent's estate representative, sued Case under strict products liability for inadequate warnings. Case sought to implead Fitzpatrick and ECRACOM for contribution based on their own negligence, should Case be found liable; Fitzpatrick and ECRACOM objected that their negligence-based liability was irrelevant to a strict liability claim against Case, since the theories of liability differed.
Whether, under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a defendant may implead a third party for contribution when the defendant's and the third party's liability arise under different legal theories.