Court rejects appeal by electrician’s widow

The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia Monday ruled for Westinghouse Electric Corp. in a lawsuit brought by the widow of an electrician who was killed while working at an Army installation.

Michael Hill was installing an electrical transformer at the site in  Franklin County, Pennsylvania, in September 2015 when he came in contact with an energized existing transformer. His widow, Tamara Hill, filed a negligence claim against Westinghouse over its handling of the energized transformer.

A district court granted summary judgment for Westinghouse, and Ms. Hill appealed.

The appellate court affirmed the district court’s decision, saying it had correctly ruled that Westinghouse was within a class protected by the state’s “statute of repose,” which applies to “economic actors who perform acts of ‘individual expertise’ akin to those commonly thought to be performed by builders.”

Westinghouse, the appellate court said in its ruling, helped design the transformer and provided expertise for its construction, thereby rendering it immune from litigation.