PITTSBURGH – A state court judge has overruled objections from a Pittsburgh McDonald’s restaurant, in the course of litigation brought by an Allegheny County man who alleged he sustained a vertebrae fracture when he and his wife were assaulted at the restaurant by three of its employees.
Plaintiff Mark Conn initially filed a complaint on Dec. 11 in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas against McDonald’s Corp. and Santonastasso Enterprises LLC (doing business as “McDonald’s Restaurant”), alleging negligence.
(Atiya Rosser, Kaniya Martin, Sharondia Lett, Alicia Johnson and Roneeese Davis were later added as defendants to the litigation.)
The suit stated the plaintiff and his wife were at a McDonald’s on Wood Street in Pittsburgh on Nov. 4. Conn alleged that while eating at the restaurant, he and his wife were stalked and harassed by a male friend of one of the employees, which then led to them being assaulted outside the restaurant by the male and three McDonald’s employees, including one who had a previous criminal conviction of violent assault.
During the assault, Conn alleged he suffered numerous injuries, including a fractured vertebrae, quadriplegia, quadriparesis, traumatic brain injury and paralysis.
The restaurant filed preliminary objections on Feb. 3, objecting to the “scandalous and impertinent” mentions of Davis’s prior criminal actions as “not legally relevant to the plaintiff’s claims.” Furthermore, the restaurant said Conn did not meet the statewide standard for properly pleading a punitive damages claim and thus, it should be stricken from the complaint.
On Feb. 24, the plaintiff responded to McDonald’s preliminary objections and said the allegations relative to conduct occurring at locations near 608 Wood Street within the 10 years prior to this incident, Davis’s prior criminal convictions and acts while in the scope of her employment, are in fact legally relevant to her claims.
Moreover, Conn argued the state’s standards for punitive damages related to vicarious liability were in fact satisfied in his original pleadings.
On March 16, Allegheny County Judge Terrence P. O’Brien overruled McDonald’s preliminary objections without prejudice, pertinent to the restaurant’s right to seek summary judgment on the punitive damages claim.
For counts of negligence, the plaintiff seeks monetary relief, trial by jury and all other just relief.
The plaintiff is represented by Joshua P. Geist of Goodrich & Geist, in Pittsburgh.
The defendant is represented by Christopher T. Lee of Dickie McCamey & Chilcote, also in Pittsburgh.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-19-017863
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com