Before a verdict came down last year awarding nearly $10 million to the family of a woman killed during a scuffle with bikers, the judge handling the case dismissed the bikers’ motorcycle club from the case, saying the plaintiffs failed to show a significant connection between the national club and the members who participated in the fight.
The plaintiffs are now asking the Pennsylvania Superior Court to reverse that decision, and have asked the appeals court to allow a jury determine whether the national club should be liable for the death.
In July 2018, a Philadelphia jury awarded $9.7 million to the estate of Tonya Focht, who had been fatally struck by an SUV during a melee that occurred in June 2015. The fight involved several members of the Iron Order Motorcycle Club. Although the club had been one of several defendants sued, the club had been let out of the case at the end of trial after it filed a motion for compulsory nonsuit.
In a post-trial opinion outlining his decision, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Kenneth Powell, who oversaw the trial, said the plaintiff was ”mak[ing] mountains of molehills” when it came to the connections between the national club and the members who participated in the fight, but a brief filed to the Superior Court on Wednesday said the judge improperly barred plaintiffs from introducing any evidence that could link the members’ actions to the national club.
“The trial court’s evidentiary rulings turned the trial of this matter into a meaningless exercise, and effectively immunized the IOMC as a matter of law,” McLaughlin & Lauricella attorney Paul Lauricella wrote in the brief.
Source: Law