SCHOHARIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Lawyers for Mavis Discount Tire filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss them from lawsuits related to the fatal Schoharie limousine crash.

Attorneys claim the plaintiffs fail to state a cause of action against Mavis saying all the allegedly negligent conduct related to the 2018 crash that killed 20 people is that of the limo company’s operators.

Attorneys representing the families of the victims call the motion to dismiss a way to circumvent justice by avoiding being questioned under oath.

“They were intimately involved in the maintenance on this particular vehicle and allowing it to end up, as we claim, to become a rolling death trap of which they, and others, were aware,” senior litigation attorney Thomas Mortati said.

Mortati said he will oppose the motion in a virtual hearing set for February 16 . In its final crash report, the National Transportation Safety Board did find that Mavis inspected and certified the limousine even though DMV policy prohibited them from checking altered vehicles like the limousine in this case.