The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

June 19, 2009

UPDATE: Settlement contracts opened in wrongful death lawsuit

By Joe Pinchot

HERMITAGE — The city of Hermitage’s insurance company will fork over the full $25,000 the city agreed to pay to settle a lawsuit filed by the wife of a man killed in a traffic crash, said City Manager Gary P. Hinkson.

Joan Klages, the wife of Earl L. Klages Jr. and administratix of his estate, filed the wrongful death suit Dec. 19, 2007, against the city and other public and private entities, and one individual.

Klages, 52, of Pymatuning Township, was killed May 8, 2007, when his motorcycle crashed into a Mercer County Housing Authority snow plow attached to a pickup driven by Timothy J. Swogger, 52, of 87 Woodrow Court, Sharon.

Swogger, maintenance manager for Mercer County Housing Authority, had started to turn left from Lamor Road onto Village Path – one of the entrances to Carol S. Gurrera Village – but stopped “a couple feet” in the opposing lane when he saw Klages coming, police said. Klages hit the brakes and the motorcycle skidded into the plow, police said.

Swogger pleaded guilty to a left-turn violation and paid a fine.

The suit called the intersection improperly designed and “unreasonably dangerous,” and said Swogger should have seen Klages coming.

Others settlement payments that will be made:

• PennDOT, which reviewed the design of Village Path and issued a highway occupancy permit – $100,000.

• Winslow Engineering Inc., Hermitage, the engineering firm for Gurrera Village – $225,000.

• Hermitage Senior Housing Limited Partnership, the owner of the development – $30,000.

• Broadway Associates, Brookfield, the former owner of the land on which Gurrera Village was built – $30,000.

The settlement contract listing the amounts was released by the city in response to a Right-to-Know request by The Herald.

The contract calls the settlement a “compromise” and that payment is not an admission of liability. The settling parties continue to deny they are liable for any of the accusations leveled in the suit

About two-thirds of the $410,000 total payments, $265,661, go to Mrs. Klages, and the rest, $136,667 for fees and $7,672 for expenses, goes to her law firm, Del Sole Cavanaugh Stroyd, Pittsburgh.

The settlement does not include Mercer County Housing Authority, which developed Gurrera Village, or Swogger, and the suit continues against them.

Text Only
Local News
  • Recycling program a bit too popular

    The  county’s effort at going green by encouraging recycling in rural areas has been a tremendous success by most accounts, but isn’t without a few glitches. In Wilmington Township, residents often only have a window of a few minutes to get cardboard recyclables in before the bin is full, prompting a discussion among Mercer County Commissioners Wednesday morning.

    May 25, 2012

  • District will tap reserve fund

    Reynolds school directors plan to fill a $374,567 hole in the 2012-2013 budget with money from the district’s fund balance.

    May 25, 2012

  • School board mulls change to sports chaperone policy

    In order to comply with the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, the Sharpsville Area School Board is looking to adjust a chaperone policy it implemented six months ago.

    May 25, 2012

  • Afternoon crash hurts 3 high school students

    Three Jamestown High School students were injured – one seriously – when their pickup left a roadway in southwest Crawford County and crashed into a tree Tuesday afternoon.

    May 24, 2012

  • Board sells some, holds some

    Brookfield Board of Education members voted Tuesday to accept only the bids for the elementary school and the middle school, for a total of $97,050.
    The decision came after an hour-long executive session.

    May 24, 2012

  • Levey: Kohl’s project died with school vote

    Stripped of the necessity of voting for a tax incremental finance plan by Hermitage School Board’s unwillingness to participate, Mercer County commissioners said Wednesday they would like to meet with school board and Hermitage city officials to discuss other ways they can help Levey and Co. build a retail development in the city.

    But Levey spokeswoman Jeffrey A. Mills said there is nothing to discuss.

    May 24, 2012

  • Warden expects hectic season at county jail

    With the unofficial start of summer just a few days away, Mercer County Jail officials are preparing for a busy season.

    May 23, 2012

  • Levey officially drops TIF request

    Levey & Co. has officially ended its request for a tax incremental financing plan to build a retail development anchored by a Kohl’s department store.

    May 23, 2012

  • Grant will pay to fix 12-15 homes



    The City of Farrell will be able to fix up about a dozen homes in the city thanks to a $300,000 HOME grant from the state.

    May 23, 2012

  • Hard budget choices yet to come


     
    Hermitage School Board has been fortunate in many ways during the economic downturn that has been so hard on many other schools.

    May 23, 2012