Lehman v. Lebanon Coach Co.

38 Pa. D. & C.4th 470, 1998 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 174
Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lebanon County·Decided December 1, 1998·No. no. 1989-01796·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

EBY, P.J.,

— In this case, which began in 1989, plaintiffs assert that the negligence of defendants in January of 1988 caused the minor plaintiff to lose her right leg. The minor plaintiff, a 15-year-old school student, had disembarked from a public transit bus owned by County of Lebanon Transportation Authority (COLT) and operated by Lebanon Coach Company and was crossing a street to get to her school when a car operated by Beth McKinney struck her, pinning her to the bus from which she had disembarked. The bus was operated by Lebanon Coach under a contract with COLT.

Plaintiff and her parents sued Beth McKinney, Lebanon Coach, COLT, the City of Lebanon, the Lebanon School District, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Lebanon Coach, learning that COLT’s insurance carrier did not consider that it had a duty to defend the company, filed a declaratory judgment action asking us to order the carrier to defend the suit. (Action no. 90-01366.) The insurance carrier for Lebanon Coach joined in that suit, asking us to determine that it was not required to defend the suit. We determined that neither the carrier for Lebanon Coach was required to defend Lebanon Coach nor the carrier for COLT was required to defend. On appeal, the Superior Court reversed in part, holding that the insurance company covering COLT had an obligation to defend Lebanon Coach, as the claims made against Lebanon Coach fell within the coverage provided by the policy it had issued to COLT. Lebanon Coach Co. v. Carolina Casualty Insurance Co., 450 Pa. Super. 1, 675 A.2d 279 (1996).

[472] The government entities sued by the Lehmans in this matter then filed motions asking us to dismiss them from the case, contending state law immunized them from liability. We agreed, finding that the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act, 42 Pa.C.S. §8541, prevented plaintiffs from recovering damages from PennDOT, COLT, the City of Lebanon and the Lebanon School District. Our holding was affirmed on appeal, the Commonwealth Court holding that the acts claimed by plaintiffs to subject these governmental entities to liability did not fall within the exceptions of the Tort Claims Act. Lehman v. County of Lebanon Transportation Authority, 143 Pa. Commw. 416, 599 A.2d 259 (1991).

Both the plaintiffs and defendant Lebanon Coach now assert that all the material facts of the matter are established, and those facts enable us to grant judgment as a matter of law. Plaintiffs assert that the facts entitle them to judgment. Lebanon Coach asserts that the facts entitle the company to judgment. In order to determine which, if either, of these conflicting assertions is correct, we must review the record briefly.

The plaintiff asserts that she was a minor on January 11, 1988, when she boarded a public transit bus. She paid her fare and rode the bus to the bus stop near the intersection of Cornwall Road and Hauck Street in Lebanon.

Plaintiff had ridden this public transit route on numerous prior occasions. The place where plaintiff got off on this fateful day was a regular stop on the bus route and a location where the bus always stopped to allow passengers to disembark. Plaintiff exited the front door of the bus along with several other passengers.

Plaintiff then walked north on the public sidewalk bordering Cornwall Road to a point behind the stopped bus. She stepped into the marked crosswalk to look [473] for traffic in order to cross Cornwall Road to get to her school, Lebanon High School. At that point, a car driven by Beth McKinney (now Beth Bittner) turned right from Hauck Street onto Cornwall Road and struck plaintiff, pinning her between the McKinney car and the end of the stopped bus, which resulted in the amputation of her right leg.

Plaintiffs take the position that Lebanon Coach Company was responsible for placing the minor plaintiff at the accident site, and had a duty to ensure her safe travel to the other side of Cornwall Road. Since Lebanon Coach failed in its duty, plaintiffs argue, Lebanon Coach is liable to them. In the alternative, plaintiffs argue that Lebanon Coach should have declined to drop the minor plaintiff at the site designated by COLT as the bus stop, knowing that it was a dangerous spot, and should have taken her to a point directly in front of the school in order to ensure her safe travel to the school.

Lebanon Coach does not dispute the above facts. Lebanon Coach, however, takes the position that its duty to plaintiff consisted of transporting her safely on its bus from the site at which she entered it to the site at which she disembarked. What happened to plaintiff after she was on the sidewalk, Lebanon Coach argues, while tragic, is not its responsibility.

The parties have submitted impressive arguments, which incorporate conflicting cases and statutes in support of their positions. We have carefully reviewed the proffered materials, along with other information produced by our own research. We now will briefly synopsize the arguments presented.

Plaintiff cites a number of cases in support of her assertion that the duty of the operator of a common carrier to a passenger begins at the point of her entry [474] into the vehicle and ends only after her arrival at a safe location. Plaintiff cites Lehman v. Carolina Casualty; Connolly v. Philadelphia Transportation Co., 420 Pa. 280, 216 A.2d 60 (1966); Cherillo v. Steinberg, 118 Pa. Super. 485, 180 A. 115 (1935); Lazor v. Banas, 114 Pa. Super. 425, 174 A. 817 (1934) and Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Co. v. Boyer, 97 Pa. 91 (1881). At oral argument, plaintiffs’ counsel suggested to this court that a number of other cases supported his position that a driver’s duty to a passenger continues until the passenger, after leaving the vehicle, reaches a place of safety.

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Lehman v. Lebanon Coach Co., 38 Pa. D. & C.4th 470, 1998 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 174 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1998).

38 Pa. D. & C.4th 470 (Lehman v. Lebanon Coach Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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