Massey v. Thiokol Chemical Corporation

LAWRENCE, Chief Judge.

ORDER ON THIOKOL’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

I

History of Litigation

This action seeking damages totalling $550,000,000 has been brought by plaintiffs against the United .States and Thiokol Chemical Corporation. All plaintiffs are black. The basis of jurisdiction as to Thiokol is diversity of citizenship. The litigation grows out of an explosion that occurred on February 3, 1971, at the plant of Thiokol in Camden County, Georgia, in which twenty-eight employees were killed. Thiokol was engaged in manufacturing surface trip flares alleged to be “highly explosive, flammable…