A jurisdictional dispute was behind the dismissal last month of a slip-and-fall lawsuit brought by a worker against the oil company that employed him.

Abduljabbar Abdul Malik claimed he was seriously injured by slipping on accumulated snow on a drilling platform in Pennsylvania. Malik alleged negligence on the part of Patterson UTI Drilling Co. and drilling site owner Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.

Although both Patterson and Cabot are incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Texas, news sources said Malik pursued the case in New Jersey because the two companies had operations in that state.

In dismissing the case, third Circuit Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo said: "The [U.S.] Supreme Court has noted that such jurisdiction typically arises only when a corporation's 'affiliations with the state are so continuous and systematic as to render [it] essentially at home in the forum state. Malik has not alleged facts that would suggest this is the 'exceptional case' where, although Cabot is neither incorporated in nor has its principal place of business in New Jersey, that Cabot has operations in New Jersey 'so substantial and of such a nature as to render [it] at home in that state' for purposes of general jurisdiction."