JENKINTOWN PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEYS

Under the current law, all negligent parties are jointly and severally liable for any verdict in favor of a claimant. For example, a claimant is a passenger on a SEPTA bus and the bus is involved in an accident with another car that ran a stop sign. The car owner, however, failed to insure its vehicle. If the claimant can prove the SEPTA driver contributed to the happening of the accident (was negligent) to any degree, then SEPTA would be responsible for paying the entire judgment to the claimant and SEPTA would have to try to get its money back from the uninsured defendant.

The Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives passed SB 435 which sought to severely reform this law. In March of 2006, Governor Rendell vetoed the proposed legislation indicating that the bill does not offer enough protection to victims in negligence cases.

We applaud Governor Rendell for his decision. It stands to reason that the innocent injured citizen should be protected above and beyond any negligent parties to the action.