PHILADELPHIA – Counsel for a lumber company and its driver accused of negligence are seeking for the case against them to be transferred elsewhere.
William E. Sylianteng filed a motion for preliminary objections on June 15, asserting the corporate defendants, Philadelphia-based Tague Lumber Building Materials and Plumsteadville-based Doylestown Lumber & Millwork Company, had merged in June 2014 – nearly one year prior to Sharif Wright and Morgan Miller’s litigation against them being filed.
Further, Sylianteng claimed Tague Lumber only purchased the assets of Doylestown Lumber, and not the liabilities. Therefore, Sylianteng claimed Tague Lumber was improperly joined as a defendant in this matter, in addition to the defendants supposedly not owning property or transacting business in Philadelphia County.
According to Sylianteng, the case’s venue should be where the accident occurred in Montgomery County, or where the defendants are based and reside, in Bucks County.
A hearing in this matter was set for Wednesday at Philadelphia City Hall, in Court chambers.
Wright and his spouse Miller’s lawsuit, filed in April, is in connection with a motor vehicle accident that had taken place in 2013. On Nov. 20 of that year, Wright was traveling on Tennis Avenue in Upper Dublin Township in a 2003 Navistar, according to his lawsuit.
At that same time and place, Ward was also traveling north on Tennis Avenue in a 1999 Navistar then owned by Doylestown Lumber. As Wright stopped to make a left-hand turn into a private driveway, Ward attempted to pass Wright on his left, which caused a collision on the driver’s side of Ward’s vehicle.
The plaintiffs assert Ward’s negligence caused the accident, through driving in an out-of-control manner, and crossing a double-yellow line, in addition to other driving violations. Further, the lawsuit alleged negligence against all defendants and failure to train Wright as a driver against Tague Lumber.
Wright suffered a paracentral broad-based protrusion of his L5-S1 vertebrae with a discrete annular tear and other internal and external back injuries, lost wages and medical bills.
Wright is seeking a sum, individually, jointly and severally, in excess of $50,000 plus costs, interests and other relief with George Hernandez suing for loss of consortium. Miller sues for loss of consortium, and is seeking a sum, individually, jointly and severally, in excess of $50,000 and arbitration limits, pre- and post-judgment interest, costs and other relief.
The plaintiffs are represented by James J. McCarthy, of McCarthy & McCarthy, in Conshohocken.
The defendants are represented by Jonathan M. Field, of Mintzer Sarowitz Zeris Ledva & Meyers in Philadelphia, and William E. Sylianteng of WES Litigation Group in Doylestown.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 150403075
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nickpennrecord@gmail.com