The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

March 9, 2010

UPDATES: Responses filed in wrongful death suit

By Joe Pinchot

HERMITAGE — Four defendants charged with negligence in a wrongful death suit filed by the mother of a former Farrell Area Elementary School teacher denied any liability in answers posted within the last week.

Western Reserve Land Consultants of Boardman, Ohio, former employee Brad L. Goodballet of East Liverpool, Ohio, and former company volunteer Kerry L. Goodballet, all represented by the same attorney, and R.T. Vernal Paving Co. Inc., North Lima, Ohio, contended that Melissa L. Miller played a role in her own death.

Ms. Miller, 35, of Lackawannock Township, died Feb. 27, 2009, after her eastbound sport-utility vehicle hit an icy patch on the Shenango Valley Freeway, Hermitage police said. The SUV hit an embankment and rolled several times, police said. Ms. Miller, who also coached the West Middlesex High School volleyball team was thrown, police said.

Western Reserve, a civil engineering and land surveying company, said it prepared the land development plan for the Stonegate Condominiums, developed just west of the site crash by UDE Freedom, a limited partnership related to Universal Development Inc., Girard, Ohio.

The suit alleges defects in the stormwater drainage system in the 2400 block of the freeway caused water to pool on the road and freeze, and Stonegate contributed to the problem.

The Western Reserve-related defendants said the land development plan included stormwater management practices, and the plan met the requirements of the city of Hermitage, Mercer County Conservation District, the state Department of Environmental Protection and PennDOT.

An erosion and sediment control plan was prepared by someone else, the Western Reserve defendants said.

“(T)he stormwater management report ... did not misrepresent the effect that the development would have on stormwater management at any location,” they said.

The defendants charged that Ms. Miller was under the influence of alcohol and Codeine at the time of the accident, which they said could be “a cause or the cause of the accident.”

Hermitage police said Ms. Miller’s blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit, and the level of Codeine was enough to impair her driving ability.

Ms. Miller had the “last clear chance to avoid the accident” and the condition of the road was “open and obvious” to her, the Western Reserve defendants said.

Vernal admitted it is a paving and excavating business, but denied that it is responsible for defects in the stormwater management system.

The company agreed that stormwater drains were built in the gutters of the freeway to take water to a detention pond, and that filters were installed to keep out debris. Vernal denied that it was responsible for maintaining the filters.

Vernal also noted the presence of alcohol and Codeine in Ms. Miller’s system, arguing she was “unfit” to operate a motor vehicle.

PennDOT denied liability in an answer filed in January.

UDE has not answered the suit, but has filed preliminary objections alleging the suit is not specific enough, and asked for whole or partial dismissal.

Vernal also had filed preliminary objections. In response, plaintiff Cynthia L. Miller withdrew four specific allegations from the suit.

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