Opinion
Civil Action No. 02-1259.
March 31, 2004
FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND ORDER
I. INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
This is a civil action initiated by Plaintiffs Larry Alston, Nakia Niles, Aneesha Wheelings, and Gregory Williams against the United States Postal Service and Kevin Allen pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2671 et seq. Each of the plaintiffs claimed that they were passengers in a car driven by Earl Gresham and that they were injured when Gresham's car collided with the United States Postal Service truck near the intersection of 31st and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Plaintiffs filed an Amended Complaint by stipulation naming Gresham as an additional defendant. Pursuant to a further stipulation, Kevin Allen was dismissed as a party, and the United States of America substituted for the United States Postal Service as the sole defendant. The United States then asserted a cross-claim against Gresham for causing the accident by running a red light and for contribution, indemnity and property damage.
By previous Order, this Court dismissed with prejudice the claims of Plaintiffs Aneesha Wheelings and Gregory Williams as sanctions for their failure to comply with two court orders and failure to appear for scheduled independent medical examinations. In the same Order, the Court entered sanctions against Plaintiff Larry Alston, directing him to pay five hundred dollars ($500.00) to the United States as reimbursement for the fees the United States incurred from his failure to appear for two scheduled independent medical examinations. Because he appeared at the third scheduled examination, the Court did not dismiss his claims.
The Court held a hearing on February 12, 2003 before entering the sanctions Order on April 23, 2003.
The Court has jurisdiction over Niles' and Alston's claims against the United States pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b) and has supplemental jurisdiction over their claims against Gresham pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367. This Court also has jurisdiction over the United States' cross claims against Gresham pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1345.
None of the parties requested the Notes of Testimony be transcribed. The Court, therefore, reserves the right to modify and amplify these Findings of Fact when and if the notes become available.
1. Plaintiffs Larry Alston, Nakia Niles, Aneesha Wheelings, and Gregory Williams initiated this civil action on March 12, 2002.
2. The defendants are the United States of America and Earl Gresham.
3. At approximately 2:00 a.m. on October 7, 2000, Gresham was driving a white Chrysler New Yorker automobile eastbound on Chestnut Street in West Philadelphia. Niles and Wheelings were passengers in the vehicle.
4. Chestnut Street is a one way street. Although traffic lights are synchronized so that traffic can pass through successive intersections with green lights, the traffic lights do change occasionally to allow intersecting traffic to flow through intersections.
5. Kevin Allen is an employee of the United States Postal Service. At approximately 2:00 a.m. on October 7, 2000, he was driving a "9-ton" United States Postal Service truck within the course and scope of his duties.
6. At that time, Allen was en route to the Post Office Terminal at 30th and Market Streets (the "Terminal"). His route required that he travel north on 31st Street, turn right (east) onto Chestnut Street, travel one block on Chestnut Street, and then turn left on 30th Street to enter the Terminal.
7. Thirty-First Street dead-ends into Chestnut Street, forcing drivers to turn right onto Chestnut Street and continue east toward Center City Philadelphia. At that intersection, Chestnut Street consists of five east-bound lanes. The three northern-most lanes are automobile travel lanes, while the two southern-most lanes are a parking/turning lane and a bicycle lane, respectively.
8. At a few minutes after 2:00 a.m. on October 7, 2000, Allen was stopped at a red light at the corner of 31st and Chestnut Streets in West Philadelphia.
9. Allen waited for the light to turn green in his direction.
10. Allen looked to his left (west) and noticed that two cars headed eastbound in the two northern-most travel lanes had stopped for the red light at the intersection of Chestnut and 32nd Streets. He also noticed a car traveling eastbound on Chestnut Street approaching the stopped cars.
11. Allen turned right onto Chestnut Street when his traffic light turned green. He initially turned into the first eastbound travel lane but immediately began to change lanes into the second eastbound travel lane in anticipation of his forthcoming left turn onto 30th Street.
12. As Allen began to enter the northern-most lane of Chestnut Street, he heard a squeal of brakes and brought the Postal Service truck to a halt. After the truck was stopped, Allen saw a flash of white pass his left window and felt the impact of a car hitting the Postal Service truck.
13. The flash of white that Allen saw, and the impact that he felt, were caused by the Gresham car hitting the stopped Postal Service truck. The Gresham car had caught the left step and left front bumper of the Postal Service truck and pulled them forward.
14. Raymond Duffy is an employee of the United States Postal Service. On October 7, 2000, Duffy was working the night shift at the Terminal. At a few minutes after 2:00 a.m., Duffy was walking back to the Terminal after moving his car. He was on 31st Street approaching the corner of Chestnut Street as Allen turned onto Chestnut Street.
15. Duffy observed the Postal Service truck at the intersection of 31st and Chestnut Streets and noticed that the light was green for the Postal Service truck.
16. Duffy also observed the Gresham vehicle approaching the intersection of 31st and Chestnut Streets. He saw the Gresham vehicle move from the far left (northern-most) lane, cross several lanes, run the red light, swerve back into the far left lane, and collide with the Postal Service truck driven by Allen.
17. Until this incident, Allen and Duffy had never met each other.
18. The physical damage to the vehicles, and the reported movement of the plaintiffs in the Gresham car, confirm that the Postal Service truck was stopped, or nearly stopped, at the time of the accident.
19. The physical damage to the vehicles, and the reported movement of the plaintiffs in the Gresham car, corroborate that the Gresham car side-swiped the Postal Service truck when it was stopped, or nearly stopped.
20. The accident was caused by Gresham running the red light on Chestnut Street and side-swiping the stopped Postal Service truck driven by Allen.
21. Immediately after the accident, Allen noticed the occupants in the Gresham car at the time of the accident. In addition to Gresham, the driver, who got out to confront him, Allen observed that there were only two passengers: one in the front passenger seat and one directly behind that passenger in the right rear seat.
22. Allen did not admit his own negligence at the scene.
23. Allen's supervisor, Patricia Brown, whose office is in the Terminal, arrived at the accident scene within moments of the collision. She was present when Allen spoke to Gresham and confirms that Allen did not admit liability for the accident.
24. Brown observed four occupants in the Gresham car — the driver, a female in the front passenger seat, and two people in the rear seat. She observed one of these persons, who was wearing a scarf or "du-rag" on his/her head, approach the car and get into the rear seat.
25. Duffy also noticed the number of persons in the Gresham car. He observed three occupants in the Gresham car — the driver, a person in the front passenger seat, and one person directly behind that passenger in the right rear seat. He also confirms that Allen did not admit his own negligence at the scene.
26. Niles was sitting in the front passenger seat of the Gresham car at the time of the accident. Wheelings was sitting in the right rear passenger seat at the time of the accident.
26. Corporal (then Officer) Michele Davis of the University of Pennsylvania Police prepared a report of the accident between the Gresham car and the Postal Service truck driven by Allen. Davis Dep. at 6-7, 9. That report lists Niles as the only passenger of the Gresham car. Davis Dep. at 11, 13.
27. Corporal Davis included passengers in her reports based on her investigation at the scene, which included inquiring about who was in each vehicle and who was hurt in the accident. Davis Dep. at 12-14, 16-19, 23, 24-28. Corporal Davis would have included in her report the names of all persons her investigation disclosed were in the Gresham car. Id.
28. A Philadelphia Fire Department ambulance was called to the scene. The ambulance report lists one injured patient transported to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. That patient was Nakia Niles. In addition, the firemen gave a "courtesy ride" in the ambulance to Wheelings. The ambulance did not transport anyone else to the hospital. No one else required medical attention at the scene.
29. Despite the fact that only two people were actually transported to the hospital in the ambulance, Wheelings, Gresham, Alston and Williams, who were all parties at that time, testified in depositions that both Alston and Williams accompanied Wheelings and Niles in the ambulance. This testimony was strongly refuted by Luigi Rosimini, the paramedic with the City of Philadelphia Fire Department who, as a trained associate emergency medical technician, tended to Niles at the scene.
30. Rosimini had one patient at the scene, Niles, who suffered neck and back pain. He placed an immobilizing collar on Niles, placed her on a hard board and transported her in the ambulance. He rode with Niles in the back of the ambulance. No sirens were necessary because Niles, the only patient, was stable and conscious the entire time.
31. Niles' and Alston's testimony concerning the identity and number of passengers in the Gresham vehicle is uncorroborated and inconsistent with all of the other credible evidence in the case.
32. Because Niles' and Alston's testimony concerning the accident is inconsistent with the physical evidence, their testimony is not credible.
32. As a consequence of the accident, the United States Postal Service incurred property damage to its vehicle.
III. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. This is an action brought against the United States pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2671 et seq ("FTCA"). This Court has jurisdiction over Niles and Alston's claims against the United States pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b), and has supplemental jurisdiction over their claims against Gresham pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367. This Court has jurisdiction over the United States' cross claims against Gresham pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1345.
2. Under the FTCA, the substantive liability of the United States is to be determined under the law of the State where the acts took place as though the government were a private person. 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b); United States v. Tennessee, 453 F.2d 839, 840 (6th Cir. 1972). In this case, the accident occurred in Pennsylvania. Thus, Pennsylvania negligence law controls.
3. To prevail under Pennsylvania negligence law, a plaintiff must show a duty, breach of duty, actual loss or harm, and a causal connection between the breach and the harm. Redland Soccer Club, Inc. v. Dep't of the Army, 55 F.3d 827, 851 n. 15 (3d Cir. 1995).
4. Even if he could show that he was in fact a passenger in the Gresham car at the time of the accident, Alston cannot show any injuries sustained as a result of the accident. Therefore, Alston is not entitled to recover anything from either defendant.
5. Under Pennsylvania law, "a violation of a statute may be negligence per se upon which liability may be grounded if such negligence is the proximate and efficient cause of the incident." Moore v. Sylvania Elec. Prods., Inc., 454 F.2d 81, 83 (3d Cir. 1972).
6. A Pennsylvania statute requires the driver of a car facing a steady red signal, and desiring to continue straight, to stop his car and remain standing until he receives a signal to proceed. 75 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 3112(a)(3).
7. By failing to stop and remain standing at the red light at 31st and Chestnut Streets, defendant Gresham was entirely at fault for the accident.
8. Because Allen was in no way at fault for the accident, no party is entitled to recover from the United States as a consequence of the accident.
9. Niles is entitled to recover damages for injuries sustained as a passenger in the Gresham vehicle only from defendant Gresham, whose negligence is the sole cause of the collision.
10. Niles is not barred from recovery based on the doctrine of "unclean hands" as that remedy is equitable in nature and not applicable to legal claims.
ORDER OF JUDGMENT
AND NOW, this 31st day of March, 2004, after a bench trial, and pursuant to the attached Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in the above-captioned matter, it is hereby ORDERED AND DECREED as follows:
1. The Court enters JUDGMENT for Defendant the United States of America and against Plaintiffs Nakia Niles and Larry Alston on Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint.
2. The Court enters JUDGMENT for the United States of America and against Defendant Earl Gresham on its cross-claim.
3. The Court enters JUDGMENT for Defendant Earl Gresham and against Plaintiff Larry Alston.
4. The Court enters JUDGMENT for Plaintiff Nakia Niles and against Defendant Earl Gresham on the issue of liability only.
5. The parties, specifically Plaintiff Nakia Niles and Defendant the United States of America, shall submit to the Court evidence of any damages they incurred within fourteen (14) days of the date of this Order.
It is so ORDERED.