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PENNSYLVANIA RECORD

Friday, March 29, 2024

Potential ethics conflict leads counsel to petition to leave auto accident and property damage case

Presto

Vincent F. Presto

PHILADELPHIA – Plaintiff counsel for a motorist injured in a car accident and whose damaged vehicle later disappeared from the property of the tow company that recovered it has petitioned to withdraw from the case.

On Sept. 4, Vincent F. Presto of Master Weinstein Schatz Moyer filed his withdrawal motion, along with a request for an in camera interview if the Court desired further information. Presto claimed his continued participation as counsel for plaintiff Ronnie Key “may make it impossible to comply with ethical court rules.”

An arbitration hearing in the case is slated for April 7 of next year, so Presto asserted his withdrawal would not affect the case in a material way.

A hearing in this matter was set for Thursday at Philadelphia City Hall, in Court chambers.

On July 14, 2013, the Weinrichs operated a 2002 Dodge Ram southbound on Route 1 (also known as Roosevelt Boulevard) in Philadelphia, near its intersection with Fox Street. A mattress the Weinrichs were carrying dislodged from their truck and fell into the lane Key was driving his 2003 Saturn Ion in, the plaintiff says.

This allegedly forced Key to swerve to avoid the mattress and strike a guardrail, causing an accident and damage to his car.

In response, defendants Harrison Inc. and Harrison Recovery & Storage came to the accident scene and towed Key’s vehicle to their yard on North 31st Street in Philadelphia. The vehicle was stored there in the aftermath of the accident, but on Oct. 24, 2013, Key says he learned his vehicle was missing from the Harrison Recovery & Storage premises.

The plaintiff sued the Weinrich defendants for failing to drive their vehicle in a controlled, safe manner and sued the Harrison defendants for failing to safeguard the plaintiff’s vehicle after it was towed.

The plaintiff is seeking an amount in compensatory damages, jointly and severally, not in excess of $50,000, plus interest, costs and fees in this case, from both the Weinrich defendants and the Harrison defendants.

The defendants are represented by Krishna S. Bhavsar Varma and David H. Denenberg of Abramson & Denenberg, both in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 150701044

From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nickpennrecord@gmail.com

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