A US Court of Appeals panel has ruled in favour of Raymond Corp in denying an effort by Newell Rubbermaid Inc to find Raymond liable for a forklift operator’s injuries.

The Cincinnati-based court of appeals for the sixth circuit affirmed a district court decision to dismiss the testimony of Newell’s sole expert witness.

Newell employee Jean Hashman was operating a Raymond-designed and -manufactured Dockstocker forklift in a Newell facility in Ohio on 23 December 2004. Court records indicate her left foot was trapped and crushed between the forklift and a warehouse structural cage, eventually resulting in a partial amputation.

Newell wanted to hold Raymond liable for workers’ compensation benefits that Newell paid Hashman and claimed the failure to include a rear guard door on the Dockstocker constituted a design defect under Ohio’s products liability law.

In district court, Raymond succeeded in excluding the testimony of forensic engineer Benjamin Railsback because, for various reasons, Railsback lacked sufficient training or experience, his testimony was irrelevant to the case, his methodology was insufficient and his opinions were unreliable, according to case filings. The district court granted Raymond's motion for summary judgment, and Newell appealed.

The judges heard arguments in the case on 18 January and, on 3 April, filed the decision written by Circuit Judge Ronald Lee Gilman.

Publicly traded Atlanta, Georgia-based Newell Rubbermaid markets consumer and commercial products and had 2011 sales of approximately USD5.86 billion.

Raymond Corp of Greene, New York; Toyota Material Handling USA Inc of Irvine, California; and Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Inc of Columbus, Indiana report within the North American materials handling management and organisation structure of Toyota Industries Corp in Kariya, Japan.