Van Divner sued Sweger and Progressive Insurance Co. after a car accident. The trial court granted Progressive’s preliminary objections and transferred venue per its interpretation of the forum selection clause in Van Divner’s auto insurance policy. The Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed, finding that the trial court erroneously construed the forum selection clause in the policy.
This third-party automobile negligence appeal required the New Jersey Appellate Division to determine whether the defendant’s inability to obtain contribution under the Joint Tortfeasors Contribution Law from the plaintiff’s uninsured motorist (UM) insurance carrier precluded the plaintiff’s right under the Comparative Negligence Act (CNA) to full recovery of the verdict. The Court held that the … Read more
In Jeffrey v. State, the plaintiff appealed from the order denying his motion for leave to file a late notice of claim pursuant to the New Jersey Tort Claims Act. The plaintiff argued the motion judge abused his discretion when he found the plaintiff did not engage in the necessary due diligence to discover the … Read more
In September 2016, Defendant Trend Motors, Ltd. (Trend) provided Defendant Aquilar with a loaner vehicle for her personal use while her vehicle was serviced. Aquilar’s negligent operation of the loaner vehicle caused it to strike Plaintiff Huggins’s car. As a result, Plaintiff sustained serious injuries. Trend held a garage policy with Federal Insurance Company (Federal) … Read more
In Hassan v. Williams, the New Jersey Appellate Division issued a must-read opinion, which touched on several evidentiary issues. The Court reviewed a defense-favorable verdict after a rear-end crash involving two commercial trucks. At the trial, the plaintiff sought to introduce testimony from the defendant’s deposition in which he said that rear-ending someone “automatically makes … Read more
The consolidated appeals in Spencer v. Johnson arose out of an auto accident in West Philadelphia. A labor union owned the car, and the union provided the car to one of its employees. That employee’s husband was driving when he struck a pedestrian, causing the injuries at issue in this case. The driver, his wife, … Read more
In Hangey v. Husqvarna Prof’l Products, Inc., the plaintiffs filed a complaint as a result of injuries sustained when Mr. Hangey was maimed when he fell off his lawnmower, and the lawnmower ran over his legs while the blades were still engaged. The trial court sustained the defendant’s preliminary objections to venue. In finding venue … Read more
In 2015, Mr. Virnelson fell to his death while working as an employee of Johnson Matthey Inc. (“JMI”) at JMI’s pharmaceutical plant in Conshohocken. Plaintiff Tonia Virnelson sued to recover for the death of her husband. The complaint alleged that JMI’s inadequate safety practices at the plant caused Virnelson’s death and that the pressure filter … Read more
In Haviland v. Lourdes Med. Ctr. of Burlington Co., the plaintiff filed a one-count complaint, alleging he was injured during a shoulder exam at Lourdes. The plaintiff claimed Lourdes was vicariously liable for a technician’s negligent acts as Lourdes’s “agent, servant and/or employee”. The trial court granted Lourdes’s motion to dismiss based on the plaintiff’s … Read more
The plaintiff in a motor-vehicle-accident case appealed from an order of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas that sustained the defendant’s preliminary objections because the venue should have been in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas. In Matthews v. Erie Ins. Grp., the Superior Court agreed. The plaintiff sued because the defendant insurance company, … Read more