Another Post-Koken Trial Court Decision Out of Philadelphia County - This One in Favor of Severance of Claims

Another post-Koken decision has come out of Philadelphia County on the issue of consolidating or severing third party claims and UIM claims under one caption.

On May 27, 2010, Judge Allan L. Tereshko issued an Order without an Opinion in the case of Carter v. Gillespie and Travelers Insurance Company, April 2010 Term No. 0564 (Phila Co. May 27, 2010 Tereshko, J.) granting the third party tortfeasors' Preliminary Objections asserting a Misjoinder of Actions.

Judge Tereshko ordered the actions severed and also mandated that the matters were to be tried separately.

According to my Post-Koken Scorecard on Tort Talk, I have now been made aware of three (3) Philadelphia County decisions in favor of consolidation and five (5) decisions in favor of severance (two of the five decisions were issued by Judge Tereshko).

To view the periodically updated Post-Koken Scorecard on Tort Talk, you can always click the link down on the right hand side of the column. Here's the link to the Scorecard here for your easy reference now: http://www.torttalk.com/2009/12/new-and-improved-updated-list-of-post.html.

Note that, while the Post-Koken Scorecard is pretty thorough if I may say so myself, it may not be exhaustive and there may be other decisions out there that I am not aware of. I would appreciate it if you could please notify me of any Post-Koken decisions you hear about as publicity of these cases may assist in the development of a consistent common law for the benefit of both the plaintiff and defense side of the bar.

Anyone desiring a copy of the Order issued in Carter v. Gillespie and Travelers Ins. Co. may contact me at dancummins@comcast.net.

Thanks to defense counsel Chuck Daly of Horsham, PA for bringing this case to my attention.