Shopsmith Forums

I understand. My point was that one would not have to deal with a successors liability if there was no liability in the first place.

In order for a liability to transfer, there has to be one in the first place.

There was none, as the presumed liability to the OEM didn’t actually exist in the first place.

Why try new case law and open Pandora’s box in successor litigation when the core liability for injury to the plaintiff could be disproved?

At the core of the liability was the false allegations that the OEM made no safety guards for the saw function.

My approach would have started there. If there was no liability to transfer, the successor liability would not have to been considered.

Everett - my opinion only - I worked in support of the courts and saw many cases come through that made me scratch my head on how the cases and appellate processes fleshed out.

everettdavis wrote:The retailer who sold it to the original owner 40 years earlier was in all 50 states and out of business by the 1994 lawsuit.
Montgomery Ward.

(snip)

Everett

Are you sure Montgomery Ward was out of business by 1994? I think I bought a MTD lawn tractor from them in 1998.

Keith

Keith,.

Out of Business is indeed inaccurate for Montgomery Ward for 1994. They were in bankruptcy but not closed.

The court case stated “Magna dissolved in 1988, and Montgomery Ward filed for Chapter 11 protection under the United States Bankruptcy Code.”
They were not out of business but were shielded from liability at the time of the filing.

Its death spiral had begun and the Huff’s could not sue them in 1994. Shopsmith Inc. was the only surviving company even remotely linked to Magna in 1954. It would be 1960 before the US Patent office would grant the original patent application, and Magna Engineering did not exist at the time. Yuba was building the Shopsmith by 1958.

My understanding is In December 2000 Wards announced that it was going out of business, and in 2001 closed all remaining stores. After being acquired by a catalog marketer, Montgomery Ward was relaunched as an online company sometime in 2004 though I have not independently verified that.

At the time I bought my tractor, I probably knew Montgomery Ward was in Chapter 11, but have since just forgotten. Probably should have googled it before commenting.

Thanks for the clarification and all the good information. It's very interesting.

Keith

For those who wish to see an original blade guard for a Mark 5 'Greenie' I have photos I snagged from a sale on eBay that I missed winning some time back that shows both.

I later scored the bottom half from a person on Craigslist who was parting out what was left of a Mark 5.

This is what the court case presumed successor liability was hinged upon - that the OEM Magna, never designed or manufactured them and thus Magna Engineering had a liability for not designing them, that somehow survived 40 years from original purchase in 1954 to 1994 when unit was bought in an estate sale, through multiple owners and manufacturers of the Shopsmith brand.

The profile of the dust chute almost mirrors the dust chute of the 10E blade guard and dust chute from the 1947-1948 era.

Mark 5 later version blade guards had the round port for connection to a shop vacuum or dust collection system.

Edit: Added section from 1954 Shopsmith Mark 5 Manual which described in detail the features and functionality of the blade guard and dust chute.

Everett

I find it Interesting that the early Mark 5 upper guard has what appears to be a combination splitter and riving knife.

On reflection thought I guess that was possible because it was for a 9" blade and when they later went to 10" blade there was no longer space for the riving knife part in the insert untill the introduction of the 510.

The 1954 catalog pix differs from the other pix.

JPG wrote:The 1954 catalog pix differs from the other pix.

You are correct. I pointed that out in post https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/view ... 92#p265992 but failed to mention it here. There are variations in the 1954 guards with rectangular dust chute.

Everett