MEDIA — A woman whose husband died when a tree branch fell on the family car has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Zachary Kravatz died at age 32 on Aug. 18, 2019, while driving his wife and two young children on Route 1 South in Upper Providence of Delaware County.
Kravatz’s widow, Janna Corbett, filed a complaint Feb. 27 in the Delaware Court of Common Pleas against the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation; Upper Providence Township; Knight Brothers, a tree service located in Aston; and owners of the property that included the felled white pine, Albert Sgalippi and Deanine Finegan, of Media.
According to the complaint, the tree that fell on Kravatz’s car was tilted dangerously on a steep slope and “had observable symptoms of decline upon reasonable inspection and should have been removed well in advance of the date of the incident.” Corbett said all four defendants bore responsibility for trees like the one that killed her husband and alleged one or more of the defendants had pruned or trimmed the tree, which should have enabled an assessment of its danger.
In addition to a jury trial, Corbett is seeking damages of at least $50,000. She is represented by The Beasley Firm of Philadelphia.