An attorney for forklift dealer Accurate Lift Truck Inc believes that the plaintiff allegations in the Thomas Catlett personal injury and product liability case are incorrect.

Marco Pasquale DiFlorio disputes the Catlett claims against Accurate Lift Truck and says "the full evidence will support this at the appropriate time with more detail that Mr. Catlett used the forklift improperly and caused his own accident".

The litigation, filed on 22 April in the US District Court in Philadelphia, cites more than a dozen examples of "negligence and carelessness" of Accurate Lift in maintenance, service, safety and standards-compliance matters involving the Mitsubishi FB18NT forklift (Forkliftaction.com News #413).

Accurate Lift Truck rents the forklift to Catlett's employer, specialty food distributor BK Enterprises Inc, under a long-term agreement.

In the workplace incident on 7 May 2007, Catlett as operator stepped off the three-wheel cushion-tyre counterbalance forklift, found himself pinned and experienced multiple injuries. The operability of a parking brake warning system is an issue in the case.

DiFlorio explains the position of Accurate Lift: "Among so many other things, the forklift in question was still under full warranty at the time of Mr. Catlett's accident with no reports or claims whatsoever to Accurate Lift or Mitsubishi reported by his employer about problems, or even concerns, having to do with the emergency brake, before or after the accident." DiFlorio is with the Philadelphia office of the law firm Salmon, Ricchezza, Singer & Turchi LLP.

"During discovery, we will clarify positions and facts," DiFlorio notes, and "that will take several months. We are quite confident how the case will turn out."

Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc (MCFA) of Houston, Texas designed and manufactured the forklift, which has a lifting capacity of 3,500 pounds (1,575 kg). On 26 May, MCFA asked to be removed from the case.

Accurate Lift Truck, an authorised MCFA dealer, purchased the forklift from MCFA and made the delivery to BK during September 2006.

"The truck was under full warranty at the time of the accident and through 11 September 2007 and under drive train warranty until 11 September 2008," DiFlorio says. "Accurate serviced the truck on 18 April 2007 before Mr. Catlett injured himself and then on 14 May 2007 just after the accident. Accurate was never asked to look at, or told there was a problem of any kind with, the parking brake on either date."

Attorneys for the litigants are scheduled 30 July to appear before Judge Stewart Dalzell for a court conference and possible setting of the timetable for steps leading to a jury trial.