Beware Pennsylvania personal injury victims and plaintiffs’ lawyers about signing Releases…
Jul 9th, 2008 | By Michael L. Saile, Jr., Esq. | Category: Blogs, Pennsylvania Injury InformationA Pennsylvania Superior Court case came down this week ruling against a Pennsylvania personal injury plaintiff. This case involved an interpretation of a Release.
In this case, the Pennsylvania personal injury plaintiff settled her case against one defendant and the defendant’s insurance company and signed a Release. The Pennsylvania personal injury plaintiff believed that the case was still open against the other defendant, Ford Motor Company for a design defect case.
Unfortunately, the Release was overbroad and the Superior Court ruled that the Release included all defendants, including Ford Motor Company. This means that the Pennsylvania personal injury plaintiff unknowingly gave up her claim against the other defendant, Ford Motor Company.
The important lesson to be learned here is to carefully review any Release presented to you as a litigant in any case. Each word has meaning. Do not sign any Release without reading and re-reading the Release. It is also advisable to have any experienced Pennsylvania personal injury lawyer to review any Release in a personal injury case.
Unfortunately, in this case, a lawyer did review the Release. I am sure his or her malpractice insurance company is well aware of this situation. Be careful!
See Ford Motor Company and Keyser and Miller Ford Inc. v. Robyn Buseman here: Ford Case.pdf
