Raymond has filed suit against Jungheinrich. PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

Raymond Corp has sued two Jungheinrich entities for patent infringement, while a manager operating a Mitsubishi forklift has taken action against the equipment lessor and manufacturer for personal injury and product liability.

Greene, New York-based Raymond says that the design for the mast construction on the Jungheinrich ETR 320 reach truck infringes US patents that were issued to Raymond in August 2006 and July 2008.

Raymond's patented design for the mast minimises obstruction to a forklift operator's field of view, according to the suit.

Raymond attorneys filed the litigation on 20 May in the US District Court in Madison, demanding a trial by jury and seeking monetary awards from the two defendants, equipment distributor Jungheinrich Lift Truck Corp of Richmond, Virginia and designer-manufacturer Jungheinrich AG of Hamburg, Germany.

Raymond competes directly with Jungheinrich products in the electric forklift truck market.

Attorneys with the Milwaukee, Wisconsin law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP are representing Raymond in the case, which was assigned to Magistrate Judge Stephen L Crocker.

In the other litigation, an attorney says Thomas Catlett was using a Mitsubishi FB18NT to move pallets of muffins to a box truck in a Philadelphia warehouse of his employer, specialty food distributor BT Enterprises Inc, on 7 May 2007.

According to the lawsuit, Catlett "stopped the forklift behind the truck, engaged the emergency brake, dismounted from the forklift and walked to the back of the box truck at which point the forklift rolled into the plaintiff and violently struck him in his back and leg pinning him between the pallet of muffins on the forklift and the truck".

The suit says: "The warning system on the forklift failed to operate when the plaintiff dismounted from the forklift", and Catlett injured his lower back, right knee, calf and leg, and neck and experienced "severe nervous shock".

Catlett sued owner-lessor Accurate Lift Truck Inc of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and manufacturer Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc (MCFA) of Houston, Texas. An attorney with the Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania law firm of Morris Clemm & Heleniak PC filed the suit on 22 April in the US District Court in Philadelphia, asking for a jury trial on the claims of personal injury and product liability. The case was assigned to Judge Stewart Dalzell.

The suit cites more than a dozen examples of the "negligence and carelessness" of Accurate Lift Truck in maintenance, service, safety and standards-compliance matters relating to the forklift. Accurate leased the forklift to BK Enterprises, which employed Catlett as a manager.

MCFA designed and manufactured the electric three-wheel cushion-tyre counterbalanced forklift, which has a lifting capacity of 3,500 pounds (1,575 kg). On 26 May, MCFA asked to be removed from the case.

In 1992, Mitsubishi Group's industrial manufacturing and trading units and a Caterpillar Inc industrial subsidiary pooled their technological and financial resources and established MCFA. The joint venture's plant manufactures Mitsubishi and Caterpillar forklifts in Houston.