Philadelphia firm Feldman Shepherd Wohlgelernter Tanner Weinstock & Dodig secured back-to-back $6 million settlements in personal injury cases in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas last week.

 

Attorneys John M. Dodig and Jason A. Daria secured a $6.75 million settlement in the case of a New Jersey mother killed during a motor vehicle accident with a tractor-trailer, Dodig reported.

 

Attorneys Daniel S. Weinstock and Carolyn M. Chopko secured a $6 million settlement in the case of a bicyclist paralyzed following his collisions with the side of a motor vehicle making a left-hand turn into a convenience store parking lot, Weinstock reported.

 

In Dodig and Daria's case, Margaret "Ursula" Powell, of Cinnaminson, N.J., was killed Oct. 19, 2007, when tractor-trailer driver Levi Graves ran a red light after taking his eyes off the road to read directions from a communication system, according to the plaintiff's pretrial memorandum in Powell v. Keystone Freight Corp .

 

Graves took his eyes off the road to look at his Qualcomm computer for directions to his trucking employer's terminal in Cinnaminson, the memorandum said. Graves' traffic signal had turned red while he was looking at the directions, and Graves did not have time to stop for the red light at the intersection of Route 73 and Fork Landing Road. Graves hit another car and hit Powell's car as those two passenger vehicles traveled on Fork Landing Road.

 

Powell's two children, Abigail, a 5-month-old, and Jack, 3, were in the car; the children survived the crash, the memorandum said. Powell's widower, Kevin Powell, brought a wrongful death and survival action claim against Keystone Freight Corp., Graves' employer.

 

Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Matthew D. Carrafiello presided over the three-day trial, which settled Aug. 4.

 

Carrafiello applied the New Jersey Wrongful Death and Survival Act to the case, Dodig said. The New Jersey wrongful death statute is much more conservative than the Pennsylvania statue, and Feldman Shepherd could find no other reported New Jersey case of this type of claim that settled for more than $4 million without involving pain and suffering, Dodig said.

 

Under New Jersey law, punitive damages on a Survival Act claim have to be tied to pain and suffering, and the plaintiff's experts were only willing to testify that Powell had one-tenth of one second of pain and suffering, Dodig said.

 

"We just did not feel in front of a jury, when we were limited to the pecuniary value of the decedent's estate, we didn't think we could do better for the client than the [$6.75 million] offer they made, which would take care of the two children for the rest of their lives," Dodig said. The plaintiff's economic expert estimated Powell's estate lost as much as $2 million for the stay-at-home mom's loss of household services and wages, Dodig said.

 

Keystone Freight's initial pretrial offer was $2 million and $5 million when the jury was picked, Dodig said.

Keystone Freight's defense pretrial memorandum is abbreviated and only states that the defendants had not completed discovery and had not retained experts to review the plaintiff's liability and damages expert reports as of May.

 

Defense counsel Joseph M. Toddy of Zarwin Baum DeVito Kaplan Schaer Toddy did not respond to a request for comment.

At trial, the defense admitted negligence but argued that Graves did not act recklessly, Dodig said. The defense also really focused on the issue of damages, arguing that the case had limited value because there was limited pain and suffering and Kevin Powell and his children were only entitled to the pecuniary value of Powell's estate, he said.

 

Keystone's insurers include Ace Insurance Co., which is paying $2 million; Travelers Companies, which is paying $3 million; and Zurich, the excess carrier, is paying $1.75 million, Dodig said.

 

Graves was sentenced in Cinnaminson Township Municipal Court to 15 days in county jail for charges of reckless driving and commercial driver's license violations, the plaintiff's memorandum said.

 

Graves was not named in the lawsuit, so that way a sympathetic figure for the defense was not sitting in the courtroom, Dodig said.

 

In Weinstock and Chopko's case, Stephen Collins and his wife, Jeanne Collins, brought claims of negligence against driver Nicole Grover and her employer, Wawa Inc., because of the injuries Stephen Collins suffered after he hit the side of Grover's vehicle Aug. 1, 2007.

 

Judge Marlene F. Lachman presided over the case, which settled Aug. 5.

 

According to the plaintiffs' memorandum in Collins v. Grover , Stephen Collins was bicycling northbound on Easton Road in Horsham Township when Grover made a left turn into his path, causing him to strike the side of Grover's truck.

 

The plaintiffs argued in papers that Grover, then 20, was negligent because she did not make sure there was not a bicyclist in the shoulder of the roadway when making her left-hand turn. Wawa was negligent because it violated its safety and security policy that prohibited the use of personal vehicles by employees to conduct company business if they were under the age of 25 "'except in a case of extreme hardship,'" the plaintiffs' pretrial memorandum said. Grover had only been licensed to drive for three months and was driving to another Wawa location to pick up ham to restock her Wawa location's deli department.

 

The case settled after the close of plaintiffs' arguments and before Lachman ruled on the viability of the negligence claim against Wawa regarding its safety policy, Weinstock said.

 

Other factors that made settlement prudent included the fact that Grover's view of the shoulder of the road was blocked by two pickup trucks whose drivers, as well as an investigating police officer, placed the blame for the accident on Stephen Collins, Weinstock said. Bicyclists are also viewed negatively, so there was a concern the jury could have negative feelings against bicyclists, Weinstock said.

 

The plaintiffs' accident reconstructionist showed that Stephen Collins did not have enough time to stop before the accident, Weinstock said. The plaintiffs also argued that Grover was an inexperienced driver and that younger drivers take longer to recognize potential traffic hazards.

 

Wawa argued in its defense pretrial memorandum that the road shoulder Stephen Collins was biking on ended right where the Wawa driveway started, and he needed to merge with traffic to his left. Stephen Collins should have taken notice of the traffic pattern around him and failed to obey the rules of the road, the defense memorandum said.

 

Wawa also argued its safety policy only applied to corporate employees, not store-level employees, and Wawa had no legal obligation to prohibit licensed drivers under the age of 25 from driving their personal vehicles during the course of their employment for Wawa.

 

John J. Snyder of Rawle & Henderson, who represented Wawa and Grover, could not be reached for comment.

 

Wawa offered $1.3 million the day before the trial, $2.1 million just before the trial started and increased its offers during trial to $2.7 million, $5 million and then $6 million, Weinstock said.

 

Wawa is paying the entire $6 million through its insurance policy with American International Group, Weinstock said.

 

The claim against Grover was dismissed the day the trial started without letting Wawa off on the vicarious claim of negligence because the jury was likely to feel more sympathy for Grover, Weinstock said. Jeanne Collins' loss of consortium claim also was withdrawn because the Collinses are in divorce proceedings, Weinstock said.