PITTSBURGH - A dump truck manufacturer responded to a negligence lawsuit filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County on Jan. 4 with a motion to dismiss.
Sam Bibbee sued Ox Bodies Inc. after he allegedly fell 6 feet while climbing a ladder on a dump truck that Ox Bodies designed and manufactured. He said he experienced severe, permanent injuries.
He sued for strict liability for Ox Bodies’ alleged failure to develop a safe ladder and for negligence claiming Ox Bodies was careless in not only creating, designing and installing a defective ladder but also distributing and selling one. Bibbee also named breach of warranty in his lawsuit and requested at least $35,000 for injuries and relief.
Ox Bodies responded to Bibbee’s lawsuit on Jan. 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, stating the court didn’t have any kind of jurisdiction over the lawsuit. Ox Bodies said that even though Bibbee’s injury happened in Pennsylvania, Alabama is Ox Bodies' principal place of business.
“Plaintiff has not and cannot meet his burden of proving the existence of general or specific jurisdiction over Ox Bodies,” Ox Bodies said in the motion to dismiss.
It added that Bibbee filed the lawsuit in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, one that has no actual relevance to the incident or even the lawsuit. It pointed out that it doesn’t do any business in the Commonwealth and doesn’t have a registered office in Pennsylvania.
“The reality of the situation is that Ox Bodies never shipped, sold or delivered the subject dump truck anywhere in Pennsylvania, and it certainly did not design or intend the subject dump truck body for use specifically in Pennsylvania,” Ox Bodies said.
Considering all of this, it asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit.