Judge Legg of Susquehanna Requires Sufficient Facts Before Recklessness Claim Can Proceed

In the case of Dayton v. Estate of Scully, No. 2019-646 C.P. (C.P. Susq. Co. July 14, 2020 Legg, J.), President Judge Jason J. Legg of the Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas addressed Preliminary Objections filed by a Defendant in a motor vehicle accident case against allegations of recklessness and with respect to the negligent entrustment claims. 

The court came down with the line of cases holding that, in order for a Plaintiff to pursue a claim of recklessness, outrageous facts sufficient to support a punitive damages claim must be pled in the Complaint. Given that this matter involved a standard motor vehicle accident with no outrageous facts, the court struck the claims for punitive damages and/or recklessness.

Judge Legg also granted the Preliminary Objections filed against the Plaintiff’s claim for negligent entrustment. 

In this regard, the Plaintiff had alleged that the Defendant owner allegedly allowed an uninsured driver to operate a motor vehicle and were, therefore, negligent in failing to have adequate insurance coverage on the vehicle. At the argument, the Plaintiffs conceded that the vehicle was not uninsured, but rather, allegedly underinsured. 

The court noted that allowing a Defendant driver to drive a motor vehicle knowing that it was insured for up to $25,000.00 in property damages did not equate to knowledge that the Defendant driver would drive the vehicle in such a manner as to likely create an unreasonable risk of harm to others. Given that there was no valid negligent entrustment claim pled in the Complaint, the court granted this Preliminary Objection as well. 

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

The prevailing defense attorney was Stephen T. Kopko, Esquire of Cummins Law in Clarks Summit, PA.

TRENDING: Judge Legg of Susquehanna County Rules Extraneous Insurance Information Inadmissible in a Post-Koken Trial

As recently promised, here is the Tort Talk blog post on the Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas decision in the Phillips case on the admission of evidence of insurance issues in a Post-Koken matter.

In the case of Phillips v. National General Assurance Company, No. 2016-959 (C.P. Susq. Co. Nov. 16, 2018 Legg, P.J.), President Judge Jason J. Legg of the Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas granted a UIM carrier’s Motion In Limine to exclude extraneous evidence relating to insurance.  

In this detailed Order, the court additionally directed the parties to prepare Proposed Jury Instructions explaining the nature of the litigation to the jury that avoids referencing the extent of the coverage limits.   In this regard, the judge cited with the signal “c.f.” (which is a "compare" signal) Judge Terrence R. Nealon’s decision in the case of Kujawski v. Fogmeg, 2015 WL 1726534 (C.P. Lacka. Co. 2015) (providing a jury instructions explaining the nature of UIM coverage and the insurance company’s potential liability).  

In rendering his decision, President Judge Legg, noting that there was no Pennsylvania state appellate court decisions on the issue of admissibility of insurance evidence at Post-Koken trials. 

The Judge pointed to recent Pennsylvania federal court decisions and, after a review of those cases, found that “there is very little, if any, probative value to the extraneous insurance contract evidence” in the Phillips case before him where there was no dispute regarding the existence of an insurance contract between the parties or the obligation of the carrier to provide UIM benefits, both of which issues had been conceded by the carrier.  

Accordingly, Judge Legg agreed with the reasoning that the extent of the coverage limits has no probative value as to the damages suffered by the Plaintiffs and the prejudice to the Defendant will be substantial as [such evidence would] provide the jury with an “anchor number” that may unduly influence the damage award.   In this regard, the court cited, among other decisions, the following:

Lucca v. GEICO Insurance Company, 2016 WL 3632717 (E.D. Pa. 2016).  The Order in Lucca can be viewed at this LINK and the Opinion at this LINK.
 

Schmerling v. LM General Insurance Company, Inc., 2018 WL 5848981 (E.D. Pa. Nov. 8, 2018).  The Order in Schmerling can be viewed HERE and the Opinion at this LINK.
 

Ridolfi v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 2017 WL 3198062 (M.D. Pa. 2017 Mag. J.) (Excluding evidence of premium payments in breach of contract action between insured and insurer).  The Opinion by the Federal Magistrate Judge can be viewed at this LINK.
 

Anyone wishing to review a copy of the Phillips Order issued by President Judge Legg of the Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas may click this LINK.

I send thanks to Attorney Gerald Connor of the Scranton, Pennsylvania office of Margolis Edelstein for bringing this decision to my attention.