The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

February 5, 2010

PennDOT denies crash liability

Others also sued by teacher's estate

By Joe Pinchot

HERMITAGE —

While PennDOT has denied liability in the death of a former Shenango Valley teacher and coach, two others sued by her estate said the suit is insufficient.

Melissa L. Miller, 35, of Lackawannock Township, died after her SUV hit an icy patch while eastbound on the Shenango Valley Freeway, Hermitage police said. The SUV hit an embankment and rolled several times, police said. Ms. Miller, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown while the SUV rolled, police said.

Ms. Miller, a Sharon native, was a Farrell Area Elementary School teacher and coached the West Middlesex High School volleyball team.

Cynthia L. Miller, Ms. Miller’s mother and administrator of her daughter’s estate, filed suit Dec. 10 charging wrongful death and negligence against:

PennDOT; UDE of Freedom, a limited partnership related to Universal Development Inc., Girard, Ohio, the developer of Stonegate Condominiums, a development just west of the crash site; Western Reserve Land Consultants Inc., Boardman, Ohio, which surveyed the Stonegate land and prepared development documents; Western Reserve employees Kerry L. Kampfer and Brad L. Goodballet; and RT Vernal Paving Co. Inc., North Lima, Ohio, which performed excavating and paving at Stonegate.

The suit said defects in the stormwater drainage system in the 2400 block of the freeway caused water to pool on the road and freeze.

Those associated with the Stonegate development failed to discover the problems in the stormwater drainage system, and UDE and Vernal failed to clear grates that kept debris out of the stormwater pipes that took the water off Stonegate’s roads, the suit said.

In its answer filed Jan. 27, PennDOT denied that it owns and maintains a storm water catch basin under the freeway. It admitted it has “legal duties” concerning the roadway, but did not go so far as to admit that it is responsible for maintaining the roadway.

PennDOT, represented by the state Attorney General’s Office, denied there were any defects to the stormwater drainage system, that another accident occurred at the same spot a week earlier, or that the motorist involved in the earlier crash contacted PennDOT to report it.

The agency also denied that it paved over a catch basin in 2005 or 2006, that it changed the drainage scheme under the road, or that the catch basin had overflowed onto the roadway when Ms. Miller’s crash occurred.

In its defense, PennDOT claimed immunity; that the accident’s causes were out of PennDOT’s control or participation; and that the alleged highway defect did not cause the crash, “only facilitated the happening of the accident.”

PennDOT also said the other defendants are liable and that, if PennDOT is found liable, they should share in the liability.

Vernal and UDE filed preliminary objections asking for full or partial dismissal based on the suit containing insufficient facts backing the allegations made against them.

Vernal attorney Mark R. Lane, Pittsburgh, said a judge should at least order Ms. Miller’s estate to be more specific.

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