PITTSBURGH – According to defense counsel, the case of a Pitcairn newspaper deliveryman who is suing his client for injury-related damages, the owner and resident of a Pittsburgh property, should be placed at issue for trial.
On Jan. 30, defense attorney Paul L. Pongrace III filed a praecipe to schedule a trial for Davis v. Hamburger Et.Al. According to Pongrace, the case should be assigned an issue number by the Department of Records, listed on the issue docket, and placed in order on the next available trial list. The case is estimated to take three-and-a-half trial days to be resolved.
Ricky L. Davis of Pitcairn first filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Feb. 13, 2018, versus David Hamburger and Regitze Weingartner, both of Pittsburgh.
Per the lawsuit, Davis was, at the time of the accident, delivering the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper to a home on Heberton Street at the request of the defendants; a residence that Hamburger owns and where Weingartner resides.
“Davis, while exercising due care and caution, fell on the subject property because of dangerous walkway, driveway, steps and porch conditions on the subject property. Davis was ordered to deliver the newspaper in the early morning hours to the front porch of the subject property by Weingarten and/or Hamburger, who therefore, knew or should have known, that uncleared snow and/or ice, untreated areas and otherwise dangerous conditions would likely cause harm to Davis,” the complaint read.
Davis allegedly sustained a number of injuries, including: A broken right tibia, fibia and ankle, more specifically a displaced bi-malleolar fracture, requiring surgery in the way of an open reduction with internal fixation; cuts and abrasions; numbness in the right lower leg and ankle, likely to be permanent; inability to flex, turn and bear full weight on the right lower leg and ankle; permanent scarring; pain and suffering, embarrassment and humiliation.
Davis claimed Hamburger and Weingartner failed to keep walking areas free of snow and ice for invitees and others, failed to secure a service provider to properly maintain said property and failed to prohibit or regulate tenant directives requiring Davis to enter on to the porch and steps of the subject property to deliver the newspaper, among several other charges.
For counts of negligence against each defendant, the plaintiff is seeking damages in excess of the statutory amount as to permit trial by jury, in addition to the demand of a jury trial.
The plaintiff is represented by Allan J. Opsitnick of Opsitnick & Associates, in Pittsburgh.
The defendants are represented by Scott A. Millhouse of Meyer Darragh Buckler Bebenek & Eck in Pittsburgh, plus Paul E. Pongrace III of the Law Offices of Kelly L. McWilliams, in Philadelphia.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-18-002127
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com