Claim of Punitive Damages in Alleged Distracted Driver (Cell Phone) Case Dismissed

In the case of Nichols v. Ray, No. 2019-GN-2711 (C.P. Blair Co. July 12, 2021 Doyle, J.), the court sustained a Defendant’s Preliminary Objections to allegations punitive damages based upon cell phone use in a motor vehicle accident case.

The court additionally sustained Preliminary Objections and struck a claim against another Defendant for negligent entrustment based upon a lack of sufficient factual specificity to support that claim. In this regard, the court noted that the claim of negligent entrustment involves knowledge that is incident-specific, and not only allgations of generalized misgivings in regards to allowing another person to operate a vehicle.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.

I send thanks to attorney William C. Robinson, III of the Pittsburgh law firm of Robb Leonard Mulvihill, LLP for bringing this case to my attention.

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