A Huntington man has sued a county in Pennsylvania over injuries he received last fall in a bicycle crash.
The Pennsylvania Record, a legal-news website, reported that Nicholas Sequino was injured in October when, “While operating his bicycle within the proper lane of traffic on the road and wearing a helmet, and without warning, Sequino was caused to collide with a plastic barricade located in the roadway. ”
“The impact from hitting the barricade caused Sequino to flip over the front of his bicycle and strike his head violently against the concrete roadway. A passerby spotted Sequino in the roadway and emergency crews were notified of the accident, and he was provided with emergency medical attention. Sequino suffered severe head injuries and other injuries as a result of the accident, which have, and continue, to cause him permanent and life-limiting injuries,” the lawsuit said, adding that, “The aforementioned injuries included a severe closed traumatic brain injury, a traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage, fractured vertebrae, a fractured skull, multiple facial fractures and multiple other injuries.”
He filed suit in June against the County of Cambria, of Ebensburg; Richland School District, Richland Township, Richland School District School Board, Richland Fire Department and Pennsylvania Highlands Community College of Johnstown; and LTM Paving, Co., of Hollsople, reporter Nicholas Malfitano wrote in the Pennsylvania Record.
The website said that the suit claims that “it was the defendant County of Cambria that was negligent in its ownership, maintenance and monitoring of the roadway, which caused the barricade to remain in the roadway and created a hazardous condition for individuals using the roadway, such as the plaintiff.”
““Prior to plaintiff’s accident, all defendants had actual and/or constructive notice of the dangerous and defective condition existing on and in the roadway where plaintiff was injured, and the defendants failed to maintain, manage, monitor secure, warn the public or remove the dangerous condition which would have prevented this accident from happening. The defendants’ repeated and sustained failure to remedy this known dangerous condition on and in the roadway where plaintiff was injured constitutes negligence for which plaintiff is entitled to compensation for the injuries sustained as a result of the Oct. 5, 2022 incident,” the suit said.
The Richland Fire Department, responding Monday to an amended filing on July 6, said, “Plaintiff has failed to state a valid cause of action against RTFD upon which relief may be granted. To the extent that discovery may establish that plaintiff’s alleged injuries and/or damages were caused by his own actions and/or inactions and/or the actions and/or inactions of persons and/or entities other than RTFD, said actions and/or inactions bar, either in whole or in part, plaintiff’s claims against RTFD, and as such, same is specifically pleaded as a defense to plaintiff’s claims. To the extent that discovery establishes that plaintiff was guilty of contributory and/or comparative negligence, his negligence bars, either in whole or in part, his claims against RTFD, and as such, the Pennsylvania Comparative Negligence Act is specifically pleaded as a defense to plaintiff’s claims. Plaintiff’s alleged injuries and/or damages were not caused by the conduct, actions and/or omissions of RTFD, and as such, same is specifically pleaded as a defense to plaintiff’s claims,” the department’s affirmative defenses stated, in part.
The plaintiff is represented by Jason E. Luckasevic of Goldberg Persky & White and Max Petrunya of Max Petrunya, P.C, both in Pittsburgh.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania case 3:23-cv-00145
Cambria County Court of Common Pleas case 2023-2312