Garing v. Buffington

32 Pa. D. & C.3d 501, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 328
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lancaster County
DecidedMay 1, 1984
Docketno. 212
StatusPublished

This text of 32 Pa. D. & C.3d 501 (Garing v. Buffington) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lancaster County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Garing v. Buffington, 32 Pa. D. & C.3d 501, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 328 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1984).

Opinion

MUELLER, J.

This matter is before the court on a motion for summary judgment filed by defendant Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

[502]*502This case arises from an accident which occurred on November 18, 1980 on United States Route 30 (Route 30) in the vicinity of the Host Farm, which is located at 2300 Lincoln Highway East (Route 30) in East Lampeter Township, Lancaster County, Pa. At approximately 5:15 p.m. on that date, plaintiff Clifton Garing was returning to the Host Farm to look for his wife. He had played the first round of a blue ribbon pairs National Bridge Tournament during the afternoon at the Host Farm. He had parked in a lot across Route 30 from the Host Farm on the north side of that highway and had walked over to the lot to get his car. Since the car was not there, he was returning to the Host Farm and while attempting to cross Route 30 again was struck by a vehicle. Deposition of Clifton T. Garing at pp. 26-32. His injuries included fractures of the right tibia and fibia and soft tissue loss in the right lower leg.

By a complaint filed February 22, 1982 and an amended complaint filed October 14, 1982, plaintiff Clifton Garing and his wife Liana Garing instituted this action in trespass. The amended complaint names as defendants Douglas L. Buffington who was the driver of the vehicle which struck plaintiff-husband, and his employer International Harvester, Inc. Also named as defendants are Host Farms of Lancaster, the correct name of this defendant being Host Enterprises, Inc., and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. All defendants are alleged to have been negligent, which negligence resulted in plaintiff-husband’s injuries.

As against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the amended complaint avers negligence in failing to provide adequate and safe crosswalks for pedestrians when the Commonwealth knew or should have known the area was commonly traversed by [503]*503pedestrians at night, in failing to erect proper warning signs and in failing to properly illuminate the roadway.

On December 7, 1983, the Commonwealth filed this motion for summary judgment seeking an order dismissing it from this action. Plaintiffs’ answer was filed on January 9, 1984. Briefs having been filed by the Commonwealth, plaintiffs and defendant Host Enterprises, Inc., this motion is now properly before the court for disposition.

Summary judgment is to be granted only where the record reveals that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In making its decision, the court is to examine the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with any affidavits. Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1035(b). The court is to accept as true all well-pleaded issues of material fact and all well-pleaded facts in the non-moving parties’ pleadings and any admissions of record. The record is to be examined in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, and all doubt is to be resolved against the moving party. Ritmanich v. Jonnel Enterprises, Inc., 219 Pa. Super. 198, 280 A.2d 570 (1971); Granthum v. Textile Machine Works, 230 Pa. Super. 199, 326 A.2d 449 (1974).

The facts of the accident are not in dispute. Plaintiff-husband was struck by a vehicle while attempting to cross Route 30 which is a state highway. The Commonwealth’s motion for summary judgment quite simply avers that it owed no pre-existing legal duty to plaintiff-husband, and that absent such a duty the Commonwealth cannot be held liable to him for his injuries. We agree.

It is well established that “no negligence claim can be based upon a state of facts on which the law [504]*504does not impose a duty upon the defendant in favor of the plaintiff Boyce v. United States Steel Corporation, 446 Pa. 226, 230, 285 A.2d 459, 461 (1971). Further, our appellate courts have held that absent some statutorily imposed duty relegating responsibility to a governmental unit to warn of a dangerous condition on a highway, no such duty will be imposed. Calvanese v. Leist, 70 Pa. Commw. 251, 253, 452 A.2d 1125, 1126 (1982).

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Related

Mitchell v. Rochester Borough
150 A.2d 338 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1959)
Calvanese v. LEIST
452 A.2d 1125 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1982)
Drew v. Laber
383 A.2d 941 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1978)
Boyce v. United States Steel Corp.
285 A.2d 459 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1971)
Ritmanich v. Jonnel Enterprises, Inc.
280 A.2d 570 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1971)
Granthum v. Textile Machine Works
326 A.2d 449 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)
Swank v. Bensalem Township
449 A.2d 837 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
32 Pa. D. & C.3d 501, 1984 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 328, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garing-v-buffington-pactcompllancas-1984.