This usually happens when Firefox is assigned to handle a type of content it can't actually handle. This article describes that situation: Firefox repeatedly opens empty tabs or windows after you click on a link.

But PDFs should not have that problem!

Can you open other PDFs in Firefox, or would you prefer that ScanSoft launch its PDF in some other application to begin with?

This happens whether Firefox 32.0.1 is open or closed and when I use ScanSoft PDF to create a pdf from Word

Is Word/ScanSoft creating the PDF on a web server (e.g., OneDrive or intranet)? That could explain why it wants to open in Firefox. Otherwise, it's hard to think of a reason...

Some follow-up questions:

(1) If you open a different PDF on your computer, does it open in Firefox?

(2) What is your setting for handling PDFs in Firefox? For example, "Preview in Firefox", "Use Adobe Acrobat (in Firefox)", etc. This article describes where you can find those settings: Use Adobe Reader to view PDF files in Firefox.

Thank you my friend.

I had it set to open pdfs in Firefox default and 32.0.1 went crazy and kept opening tabs when I either created a pdf with ScanSoft or opened one in Firefox.

I changed the Firefox setting to PREVIEW IN FIREFOX and the problem stopped. WOW and thank you again.