Defense lawyer petitions federal court to move motor vehicle injury suit out of Phila.

An attorney representing a New Jersey man who is being sued by a Philadelphia resident

over claims that the plaintiff sustained serious back injuries after his vehicle was struck in the rear by a vehicle driven by the defendant on an area highway has petitioned the U.S. District Court to transfer the case out of Philadelphia and into the federal venue.

Elizabeth Horneff, a lawyer from the Philadelphia firm Margolis Edelstein, filed court papers on March 19 seeking to remove a case in which her client is named as a defendant from the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, where the suit was first filed in late February, to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The record shows that Southampton lawyer Neil Hoffman, of the firm Hoffman, Michels & Sternberg, filed the personal injury claim on behalf of Anthony DiMatteo and his wife, Traci DiMatteo, against Bridgeton, N.J. resident Jose Jimenez-Luna, also known as Jose Jimenez, and New York-based Diversified Wireless Inc.

The crux of the complaint is that Anthony DiMatteo was seriously injured on Nov. 4, 2011, at about 6:30 in the morning when a vehicle driven by Jimenez, and owned by Diversified Wireless, slammed into the rear of the plaintiff’s car while both parties were driving westbound on Interstate 76.

The lawsuit alleges that DiMatteo sustained various injuries as a result of the collision, including a number of disc herniations and spinal problems, as well as an elbow contusion, eye contusion, and nervous system shock.

The suit accuses the defendants of carelessness, negligence and recklessness for failing to have their vehicle under proper control, failing to give proper and sufficient notice of their approach and failing to exercise due care and caution under the circumstances.

The DiMatteo lawsuit says the plaintiffs seek more than $50,000 in damages, plus interest and costs.

In the defendants’ removal notice, attorney Horneff wrote that the case should play out in federal court because there is diversity of citizenship among the parties and because the defense contends that the amount in controversy will actually exceed the jurisdictional limits in a Pennsylvania state court.

“Petitioner desires to and does hereby remove this civil action from the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, pursuant to the laws of the United States in such cases made and provided,” the defense filing states.

 

The federal case number is 2:13-cv-01441-JP.