UPS seeks venue transfer in wrongful death case

Lawyers for United Parcel Service are seeking a venue change in a wrongful death claim

that was filed this summer in Philadelphia’s Common Pleas Court by the mother of a deceased motorist.

Attorneys with Philadelphia-based Rawle & Henderson on Oct. 3 filed a Notice of Removal at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania requesting to move the wrongful death claim from state court to the federal venue.

On Aug. 10, Philadelphia attorneys Theodore M. Schaer and Alan M. Herman, of the firm Zarwin, Baum, DeVito, Kaplan, Schaer & Toddy, filed suit in state court on behalf of Brookhaven, Pa. resident Patricia J. Shober-DuBolino.

The plaintiff is suing in her capacity as adminstratrix of the estate of the late Kevin Phillip Shober, her son, who was killed this past spring following a vehicle accident on Interstate 476 in Delaware County, just outside of Philadelphia.

In her complaint, Shober-DuBolino blames UPS for her son’s death, which occurred after the man was struck by a UPS tractor trailer that had been traveling southbound on I-476, according to the original complaint.

Just prior to the accident, Kevin Shober had pulled  his vehicle over to the shoulder of the highway and exited the car.

Shober died as a result of being struck by the tractor trailer.

The lawsuit contains counts of negligence and wrongful death.

The plaintiff stated that she seeks damages in the amount of the arbitrational limits at state court, but in the defendants’ removal notice, UPS attorneys note that a reading of the plaintiff’s complaint shows damages to be in excess of $75,000, which should trigger a transfer to federal court.

UPS attorneys also wrote that venue is proper in U.S. District Court because there is diversity in citizenship among the parties, with the plaintiff residing in Pennsylvania and the defendant headquartered in Georgia and incorporated in Delaware.

The plaintiff’s lawsuit claims the carelessness, negligence and recklessness of UPS and its driver contributed to the untimely death of her son.

The mother seeks damages relating to her son’s pain and suffering, pre-impact fright, and loss of earnings and future earnings capacity.

 

The Common Pleas Court case ID number is 120702602.

The federal case number is 2:12-cv-05641-HB.