May & Johnson, P.C. (Sioux Falls, SD) is pleased to announce that attorneys Mark Arndt & Eric DeNure, on behalf of Reno Hydraulic Rebuild, Inc., recently obtained a dismissal for their client from a federal personal injury/product liability cause of action. The Order of Dismissal was based on a Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction.
The Plaintiff in this case was severely injured (quadriplegic) after becoming entangled in an asphalt combine while performing road construction work in South Dakota. With the engine still running, and while the teenage Plaintiff was working in the paver hopper, another crew member engaged a toggle switch, advancing the scraper flights (combine) injuring the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff sued eight alleged product manufacturers, component parts manufacturers and product designers in Federal District Court in South Dakota, including Reno Hydraulics, who was alleged to have performed repairs on a hydraulic pump.
The Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction was based on Reno Hydraulics lack of minimum contacts in South Dakota as defined by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. After initially indicating the jurisdictional motion would be contested, Plaintiff eventually conceded the lack of personal jurisdiction. The Primerus client is the first, and thus far only, co-defendant to be dismissed from this litigation. The seven remaining co-defendants and Plaintiff appear poised for many years of litigation regarding the manufacturing and design of the asphalt combine, and Plaintiff’s injuries, which will include a life care plan.
For more information on May & Johnson, visit the International Society of Primerus Law Firms or mayjohnson.com.
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