PITTSBURGH – The sister of a man killed when a cylinder of compressed natural gas on his converted pick-up truck exploded, has discontinued 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 first filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Oct. 7, 2020 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 said.
“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 believed 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.
AFS filed an answer to the complaint along with new matter on Nov. 17, 2020.
“Plaintiff’s complaint fails to state a claim against defendant upon which relief may be granted. Defendant denies that it owed duties of the type alleged by plaintiffs in regard to the alleged events at issue. Defendant sets forth that it at all times complied with any and all applicable provisions of any pertinent government regulations and/or statutes and otherwise acted in a reasonable and prudent manner,” the answer stated, in part.
Notably, AFS explained that it “removed the CNG tanks due to moisture issues, advised decedent not to reinstall them and thereafter did not reinstall the tanks or perform any maintenance of any kind on the Honda Ridgeline.
“Defendant was not informed and had no reason to know that decedent was using natural gas to power the Honda after the October 2016 decommissioning by defendant. Decedent Louis Usher disregarded the warnings and instructions of defendant not to reinstall the CNG tanks,” the answer said.
“Upon information and belief, decedent Louis Usher was a habitual cigar smoker and performed repairs and/or maintenance on his vehicle with a lit cigar in his mouth or his hand. Defendant reserves the right to set forth additional defenses that discovery may reveal.”
UPDATE
Counsel for the plaintiff filed a praecipe to discontinue the case as to all defendants, pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 229 on Sept. 21.
Prior to discontinuance, for counts of strict liability, breach of warranty and negligence, the plaintiff was seeking damages in excess of the jurisdictional limits for arbitration.
The plaintiff was represented by C.J. Engel of Swensen & Perer, in Pittsburgh.
The defendants were represented by Sharon Z. Hall of Zimmer Kunz, also in Pittsburgh.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-20-010618
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com