Summary Judgment Denied In Case of Passing Motorist Injured By Low Hanging Tree

In the case of Cox v. Cemex, Inc., No. 10132 of 2020, C.A. (C.P. Lawr. Co. Dec. 19, 2022 Motto, P.J.), the court denied the Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment in a case in which a Plaintiff, who was a passenger in a vehicle at the time of this accident, was struck in the abdomen by a tree as the vehicle drove by the Defendant's property.  It was alleged that the tree at issue was located on the Defendant’s property and was allegedly protruding over the roadway.

There was evidence in the case that, during the course of the accident, the vehicle in which the Plaintiff was located in was traveling on a curve in the road and that vehicle was allegedly forced to swerve over towards a berm due to an oncoming vehicle.

In addressing the Motion for Summary Judgment at issue, the court held that, while liability can be imposed upon a landowner and a municipality where an object obstructs a roadway and causes injury, in this case, there were genuine issues of material facts regarding whether the tree that injured the Plaintiff was indeed protruding over the roadway from the landowner’s property at the time of the accident. As such, the Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment was denied.

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Source: “Digest of Recent Opinions.” Pennsylvania Law Weekly (Feb. 7, 2023).

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