PITTSBURGH – The sister of a man killed when a cylinder of compressed natural gas on his converted pick-up truck exploded, has leveled negligence and liability claims against the company who serviced his vehicle.
Victoria Ann Usher (as executrix of the Estate of Louis N. Usher Jr.) of Perryopolis filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Oct. 7 versus Alternative Fuel Solutions of Pennsylvania, LLC, of Mahaffey.
“Defendant AFS is in the business of converting gasoline-powered vehicles to run on compressed natural gas and in servicing those vehicles, and conducts business throughout Pennsylvania, including in Allegheny County. At all times relevant, decedent Louis N. Usher Jr., then 55, owned a 2007 Honda Ridgeline pick-up truck, which AFS had converted to run on compressed natural gas in 2012, and which AFS had serviced thereafter,” the suit says.
“On July 17, 2019, a compressed natural gas storage cylinder on the decedent’s Honda Ridgeline exploded and killed decedent. The explosion of the Honda Ridgeline was due to a catastrophic failure of one of the compressed natural gas cylinders that AFS had installed and serviced. In particular, the explosion was not an ignition/fire explosion, but instead was due to a sudden pressure release due to a defect in the structural integrity of the cylinder that held the gas, which defect was known or knowable to AFS in that AFS installed and serviced the cylinder.”
According to the plaintiff, the compressed natural gas cylinder was prone to catastrophically explode, its structural integrity was compromised, it did not come with proper and adequate instructions to ensure its structural integrity and it was in an unsafe, defective and inherently dangerous condition at the time it left the defendant’s possession.
The plaintiff believes the defendant negligently failed to properly test the structural integrity of the cylinder, failed to properly install the cylinder so as to protect its structural integrity and failed to ensure that the cylinder was adequately protected from damage, among other allegations.
For counts of strict liability, breach of warranty and negligence, the plaintiff is seeking damages in excess of the jurisdictional limits for arbitration.
The plaintiff is represented by C.J. Engel of Swensen & Perer, in Pittsburgh.
The defendants have not yet obtained legal counsel.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-20-010618
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com