Allegations of Recklessness Continue to Be Upheld

In the case of Celli v. Endless Mountain Extended Care, LLC, No. 2023-CV-5141 (C.P. Lacka. Co. Sept. 12, 2024 Nealon, J.), the court addressed various issues regarding the pleadings in a trip and fall case.

According to the Opinion, a Lackawanna County Plaintiff was undergoing in-patient treatment at a Wyoming County facility when he fractured his ankle during recreational activities on the Plaintiff’s sports field.

The court addressed various Preliminary Objections filed by the Defendant clinic and the Defendant landowner.

With regard to one of the Preliminary Objections, the court denied the objection to the allegations of recklessness and continued to trend of cases holding that recklessness can be pled in any case where negligence is alleged.  Judge Nealon again referenced the rationale that, given that recklessness is an allegation as to a state of mind, under Pa.R.C.P. 1019 and appellate precedent reviewing the same, allegations of recklessness are permitted to be generally pled under Pa. R.C.P. 1019.  

As part of its analysis of this issue, the court pointed, in part, to the article entitled "Pleading for Clarity:  Appellate Guidance Needed to Settle the Issue of the Proper Pleading of Recklessness in Personal Injury Matters" by Daniel E. Cummins, 93 Pa. B.A.Q. 32 (Jan. 2022).

The court also separately allowed the claims of punitive damages to proceed after finding that sufficient facts were pled to support that claim..

Judge Terrence R. Nealon
Lackawanna County

With regards to other issues raised, the court found that, given that the patient had charged the owner of the premises with misfeasance for personally participating in the tortious activity, the Plaintiff did not need to pierce the clinic’s corporate veil in order to sue the owner. 

Rather, the court found that the Plaintiff may instead impose the individual liability on the owner under a participation theory where it is alleged that the owner of the premises allegedly directed the drilling and digging of the various holes in that field as part of a proposed facility expansion.  It was also noted that the landowner had also encouraged the clinic’s patient to participate in recreational activities on that field even though the owner knew that other patients had been previously injured due to the numerous holes the field that were allegedly concealed by overgrown grass.

Lastly, the trial court rejected any venue challenge by the Defendants after finding that the venue in Lackawanna County was proper as to the owner given that the owner resided in Lackawanna County and was served with original process in Lackawanna County.  Judge Nealon also reasoned the venue was proper as to all Defendants where the patient was asserting joint and several liability against the clinic and the owner. Accordingly, the court found that the venue was proper as against both Defendants under Pa. R.C.P. 1006(c).

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Demurrer Asserted by Officers/Agents of Corporate Defendants Denied in Premises Liability Action

In the case of Bell v. S.W. Krauss, LLC, No. 2023-CV-1578 (C.P. Lacka. Co. May 1, 2024 Gibbons, J.), the court issued an Opinion in which, in part, overruled Preliminary Objections against individual Defendants who affiliated with a corporate Defendant in a personal injury matter.

According to the Opinion, the case arose out of an incident during which a Plaintiff was at a nightclub establishment in the early morning hours as a result of which she was allegedly hit by a stray bullet while she was allegedly located in the parking lot allegedly due to a dispute in the parking lot on the premises.

The Plaintiff sued various corporate entities as well as certain individuals who allegedly had relationships with those corporate entities.

The individual Defendants filed Preliminary Objections seeking to be dismissed by virtue of a demurrer.

Certain of the individual Defendants asserted that they were entitled to be dismissed because the Plaintiff’s Complaint failed to assert that those Defendants had acted with “misfeasance,” which is a requirement for negligence actions against corporate officers and agents.

Judge James A. Gibbons
Lackawanna County

Judge Gibbons reviewed the law in this regard and noted that, in general, an officer or agent of a corporation who takes no part in the commission of an alleged tort committed by the corporation is not individually liable to third parties for such a tort. 

However, an officer or agent of the corporation may be held liable tort under a “participation theory,” which states that the participating individual is subject to liability as an actor, not as an owner or officer. In order to impose liability under a participation theory under Pennsylvania law, a Plaintiff must establish that the individual officer or agent engaged in misfeasance rather than mere non-feasance.

The court agreed with the Plaintiff’s argument that the Complaint sufficiently pled a negligence cause of action against the individual Defendants as possessors of the property where the Plaintiff was injured, although not necessarily as corporate officers or agents.  As such, the individual Defendants demurrers were overruled.

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