Federal govt., U.S. mail carrier face motor vehicle tort claim

A Bucks County couple has filed a federal tort claim against the United States

government and a U.S. Postal Service employee over injuries the husband allegedly sustained in a motor vehicle accident with the mail carrier.

Gerardo and Shelley Marquez, who reside in Furlong, Pa., are suing the federal government and postal worker Andrew McMasters at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The complaint says that Gerardo Marquez became injured on Sept. 12, 2011, after his vehicle was struck by a Postal Service box truck driven by McMasters while both the plaintiff and defendant were traveling along Route 309 in Montgomery County.

While the suit doesn’t specify whether or not the collision was a head-on crash, it does state that McMasters, who resides in West Chester, Pa., “negligently, carelessly and/or recklessly operated [his] vehicle so as to cross into and enter” Gerardo Marquez’s lane of travel and “violently crash” into the plaintiff’s vehicle.

The suit says that a claim was presented to the Postal Service about a week after the accident, one that was subsequently denied by the governmental agency.

McMasters is accused of operating a motor vehicle at a high and dangerous rate of speed under the circumstances, failing to have his vehicle under proper control, failing to keep a proper distance from other vehicles, and other acts of negligence and recklessness.

Gerardo Marquez alleges that as a result of the collision, he sustained right shoulder internal derangement, tendon and rotator cuff injuries, disc herniations, an aggravation of lumbar disc disease and lumbar radiculopathy, chondromalacia of the left patella, as well as cervical, right shoulder, lower back and left knee sprains and strains.

The couple claims that they have incurred various medical expenses as a result of Gerardo Marquez’s injuries.

Marquez himself claims he has suffered from physical and mental impairment that prevents him from performing his regular duties and activities.

The plaintiffs also claim to have sustained earnings losses.

In addition to the negligence claim, Shelley Marquez has a loss of consortium claim against the defendants in which she states she has been deprived of the companionship, society and earnings of her husband.

The lawsuit lastly contains a property damage count in relation to the couple’s automobile.

The plaintiffs seek unspecified compensatory damages, plus interest and litigation costs.

They are being represented by Jenkintown, Pa. attorney Marshall D. Bleefeld, of the firm Rosen, Moss, Snyder & Bleefeld LLP.

The federal case number is 2:13-cv-03847-NS.