A dispute over allegations of defective work that resulted in trailers catching fire now is threatening to drag in the manufacturers of some of those components that may be at the root of the incidents.
The case of Indiana-based Summitt Leasing and Summitt Trucking vs. Fruehauf was first filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western district of Kentucky at the end of last year, with an amended complaint filed soon after. Summitt is a carrier as well as a supplier of leased trailers.
Long cast of characters
Last week, Fruehauf, a manufacturer of trailers, moved to bring in as defendants SAF-Holland Inc., Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC and Hoosier Trailer Acquisition Corp. Two of those companies, SAF-Holland and Bendix, manufactured components in the trailers that van leasing company Summitt says failed in several different ways, which may have led to the fires.
Hoosier is a trailer dealer that supplied the Fruehauf-manufactured trailer to Pace Transportation Services, which then moved the trailers to Summitt. Pace already was a defendant in the original case along with Fruehauf.

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