PHILADELPHIA – The Greyhound and Flixbus transportation companies seek to disprove allegations that they were responsible for the death of a 32-year-old man from cardiac arrest, while aboard a Greyhound bus bound for Philadelphia two years ago.
Dawn Louise Mannella (individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Joseph E. Bracken) initially filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on July 20 versus Greyhound and Greyhound Lines, Inc. of Philadelphia, Flixbus, Flixbus, Inc. and Flix North America, Inc. of Dallas, Texas, and ABC Corporations 1-4.
“On Aug. 12, 2021, 32-year old Joseph Bracken boarded a Greyhound bus in Greenville, South Carolina, scheduled to arrive in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 13, 2021. Upon information and belief, the defendants owned, operated, and controlled the subject bus, transportation services, and bus terminals at issue in this lawsuit. At all times pertinent hereto, the bus driver was an employee and/or agent of all defendants,” the suit states.
“During the course of Joseph’s trip from Greenville to Philadelphia, Dawn Mannella, Joseph’s mother, spoke with Joseph multiple times over the phone. Joseph told Dawn he and the other passengers were extremely hot on the bus, as the air conditioning in the bus was not working. The only source of air was a small fan blowing on the driver. Despite temperatures reaching up to 98 degrees in Baltimore, a stop on the bus’s route, and 95 degrees in Philadelphia, the bus continued operating without air conditioning for the passengers. Passengers asked the bus driver to request a bus with working air conditioning, but the driver declined.”
The suit continues that the last time Ms. Mannella spoke with her son, the bus had departed from Baltimore, and Mr. Bracken told Ms. Mannella he estimated an arrival in Philadelphia in approximately 45 minutes. During this conversation, Mr. Bracken reported a migraine, due to the conditions of the bus in the heat.
The bus arrived in Philadelphia at the defendant Greyhound Terminal at approximately 7 p.m. on Aug. 13, 2021. Greyhound employees and the driver left Joseph’s luggage on the sidewalk at the defendant Greyhound Terminal.
After unloading the luggage and the other passengers departed, the driver parked the bus in the lot, located at 9th and Filbert Streets. The driver did not conduct a search of the bus, prior to or after parking the bus in the lot.
“Ms. Mannella began calling Mr. Bracken, when he did not call at arrival and had not arrived at her home in Collingdale. More than an hour after arrival, another bus driver boarded the bus to prepare the bus for travel, when the driver found Mr. Bracken unresponsive on the bus. Mr. Bracken had a pulse and the paramedics ran him on a gurney from 9th and Filbert Streets down to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. During this time, Ms. Mannella continued to call her son. Finally, at approximately 10:30 p.m., a physician at TJUH answered Dawn’s call on her son’s phone. TJUH informed Dawn that Joseph was left trapped on the bus for several hours after experiencing a cardiac arrest. Due to the significant time in which Joseph was left unattended on the hot bus, he suffered catastrophic anoxic brain and organ damage,” the suit says.
“Mr. Bracken succumbed to his injuries two days later on Aug. 15, 2021. TJUH reported to Ms. Mannella that had her son been found sooner, that he would be alive. Defendants never contacted the police to conduct a timely investigation of the conduct at issue. As a proximate result of the defendants’ negligence as set forth above and further herein, Mr. Bracken suffered severe conscious pain and suffering and ultimately death.”
The defendants removed the action to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Aug. 8, citing diversity of citizenship between the parties and amount in damages contested greater than $75,000.
The defendants motioned to dismiss punitive damages and certain claims from the case on Aug. 15, arguing that the plaintiffs cannot prove the criteria which would necessitate such a penalty – namely, that the defendants’ conduct was “malicious, wanton, reckless, willful or oppressive”, nor can they prove those aforementioned claims with sufficient specificity.
“Even if all of the facts alleged in the complaint are accepted as true, plaintiffs’ allegations do not come close to pleading the level of outrageous conduct that is required to substantiate a claim for punitive damages. Plaintiffs’ allegations that moving defendants failed to provide working air conditioning, failed to have life-saving equipment, and were negligent, if accepted a true, are not sufficient grounds to plead punitive damages. Even if the air conditioning was inadequate or inoperable, that in no way would suggest intentional, reckless or malicious conduct on behalf of moving defendants. Moreover, any lack of unnamed and unidentified life-saving equipment summarily is insufficient to maintain a claim for punitive damages. Plaintiffs also fail to allege a cause of death in the complaint,” the dismissal motion stated.
“Taking all the facts pled in the complaint as true, plaintiffs have failed to meet the necessary burden to sustain a claim for punitive damages as alleged in Counts I and II of the complaint. Plaintiffs have failed to allege facts that suggest intentional, reckless or malicious conduct on the part of the moving defendants which is required for a reward of punitive damages. Thus, plaintiffs’ claim for recklessness and punitive damages should be dismissed.”
For multiple counts of negligence, survival and wrongful death, the plaintiff is seeking damages, jointly, severally and/or individually, in excess of the jurisdictional requirement to guarantee a jury trial, delay damages, and such other recoverable damages, including punitive damages.
The plaintiff is represented by Lane R. Jubb Jr. of The Beasley Firm, in Philadelphia.
The defendants are represented by Justin A. Bayer of Kane Pugh Knoell Troy & Kramer, in Blue Bell.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:23-cv-03050
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 230602060
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com