Thurman Brown v. E.W. Bliss Co., E.W. Bliss Co., Inc., and W.H.B. Co., Inc.

ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

In this products-liability case, Thurman Brown appeals the summary judgment in favor of defendants and the District Court’s 1 refusal to permit him to amend his complaint to add another defendant. We affirm.

I

In the background of this case is the complex corporate history of defendant E.W. Bliss Co., which we now set out. In 1915 E.W. Bliss Co., which manufactured flange-die machines, built the 250-ton “Bliss press” that allegedly caused the injury for which plaintiff sues. The corporation continued to build presses until 1968, when it merged into another company,…