WATCH OUT FOR THIS PITFALL WITH DEADLINES

On December 24, 2025, the U.S. Postal Service implemented new procedures for dating mail.  As of that date and going forward, the Post Office will postmark letters and packages with the date they are processed at the postal facility rather than the date that they are dropped off in the mailbox as was the case in the past. 

This shift in procedure could affect whether time-sensitive mail is considered to be on time.

Commentators have recommended that, if your mail is time-sensitive in this regard, you should walk the mail into the post office and request a manual postmark to ensure that the postmark date matches the day you mailed the item.  You can also request a certificate of mailing.

Source of image:  Photo by Anthony Acosta on www.pexels.com.

Please Consider Signing Up As a Mock Trial Juror for Lackawanna County Competition

 

Summary Judgment Denied in Federal Court Snow and Ice Slip and Fall Case

In the case of Spa Resort, L.P., No. 3:24-CV-0796 (M.D. Pa. Jan. 9, 2026 Saporito, J.), the court denied the Defendant resort’s Motion for Summary Judgment in a slip and fall case.

The Defendant landowner argued that the hills and ridges doctrine applied because the Plaintiff allegedly slipped and fell due to icy conditions that resulted from snowfall on the day of the incident.

In opposition, the Plaintiffs argued that the Plaintiff did not slip and fall due to icy conditions caused by the snowstorm, but rather, because the Defendants’ driveway was improperly maintained and repaired such that the hills and ridges doctrine did not apply.

The court ultimately concluded that questions of fact remained as to whether the hills and ridges doctrine applied to shield the property owner from liability regarding the allegedly slippery conditions on the premises.

Judge Joseph F. Saporito, Jr.
M.D. Pa.

In his decision, Judge Saporito provided a detailed review of the current status of the law in Pennsylvania regarding the hills and ridges doctrine.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.


Source: Article – “Jury To Decide If Spa Resort Can Be Liable Under ‘Hills and Ridges’ Doctrine In Slip-And-Fall Case,” By Riley Brennan of The Legal Intelligencer (Jan. 12, 2026).

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Finds It Cannot Reach Question of Validity of Uber's Arbitration Clause

In the case of Chilutti v. Uber, No. 58 EAP 2024 (Pa. Jan. 21, 2026) (Op by Brobson, J.), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court addressed a request by Uber to refer a personal injury civil litigation matter to arbitration.

According to the Opinion, a woman who uses a wheelchair sued Uber Technologies, Inc. and others after an incident in which an Uber driver failed to provide her with a seat belt while transporting her in a wheelchair-accessible vehicle, causing her to fall and sustain injuries.

The Plaintiff filed a negligence cause of action in court. Uber responded by filing a Petition to Compel Arbitration, arguing that the Plaintiffs had agreed to arbitrate their claims when they enrolled in Uber’s service.

At the trial court level, the trial court granted Uber’s Petition and ordered the parties to proceed to Arbitration.

At the Superior Court level, the Superior Court, sitting en banc, reversed and held that there was valid agreement to arbitrate and remanded for further proceedings.

In this decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme court first reviewed whether an Order compelling Arbitration and staying trial proceedings is an immediately appealable collateral Order. The Supreme Court held that such an Order does not meet the requirements for a collateral Order because the issue can be reviewed after the entry of a final judgment and, as such, did not result in irreparable loss if the judicial review is postponed. 

Accordingly, the Supreme Court vacated the Superior Court’s decision and remanded the case back to the trial court with instructions on how to proceed.

In light of this decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did not address the issue of the validity of the Uber Arbitration Agreement or the merits of whether Arbitration could be compelled in cases involving Uber.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.


Source: Justia Daily Opinion Summaries, www.justia.com (Jan. 22, 2026).4

Source of image:  Photo by Tingey on www.unsplash.com.

Plaintiff Lost In More Ways Than One: Summary Judgment Granted Where Plaintiff Ventured Onto the Property By Mistake and Fell

In its unpublished decision in the case of DeWitt v. Bedford County Airport Auth., No. 1345 C.D. 2024 (Pa. Cmwlth. Nov. 10, 2025 Wolf, J., Jubelirer, J., and Wojcik, J.) (Op. by Wolf, J.) (unpublished), the Commonwealth Court affirmed the entry of summary judgment in favor of the Defendant after finding that the record confirmed that the Plaintiff, at the time of his premises liability accident, was a trespasser and not a business invitee.

According to the Opinion, the Plaintiff was traveling to a house to take a look at a trailer he was thinking of buying from the owner.  The Plaintiff followed GPS directions via the Google Maps app but ended up unkowningly going to the wrong address. The record confirmed that the Plaintiff was only on the property by mistake at the time he slipped and fell on an icy condition.

After discovery, the Defendant homeowners filed a Motion for Summary Judgment asserting that the Plaintiff was a trespasser and that, therefore, the homeowners legally did not owe the Plaintiff any duty with respect to the icy condition.

The trial court entered summary judgment and the Commonwealth Court affirmed.

In its Opinion, the Commonwealth Court noted that, even if the Plaintiff had license to ask for direction while on the property, the Plaintiff was injured after he went to a second location deeper into the land owned by the landowner, further trespassing on the property.

The court stated a rule of law that a mistake by an entrant onto another’s land as to their status or permission enter the land does not relieve such entrant of a trespasser status.  See Op. at 5 citing Restatement (Second) of Torts § 329 [other citations omitted].

The appellate court noted that the implied license doctrine does not extend to premises liability actions.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision, which the Commonwealth Court marked as an "Opinion Not Reported," may click this LINK.


I send thanks to Attorney James Beck of the Philadelphia office of the Reed Smith law firm for bringing this case to my attention.

Source of image:  Photo by Tamas Tuzes-Katai on www.unsplash.com.

Judge Linhardt of Lycoming County Rules that Allegations of Recklessness Must Be Supported By Facts Pled in the Complaint

In the case of Charles v. Martin, No. CV25-00, 974 (C.P. Lyc. Co. Dec. 12, 2025 Linhardt, J.), Judge Eric R. Linhardt of the Lycoming County Court of Common Pleas overruled a Defendant-driver’s Preliminary Objections against allegations of recklessness in a motor vehicle accident case in a matter in which intoxication on the part of the Defendant-driver was alleged.

Notably, in his decision, Judge Linhardt held that, while allegations of recklessness could be pled generally, a plaintiff still also has to plead facts in the Complaint to support such a claim.   

According to the Opinion, this matter arose out of a fatal motor vehicle accident during which it was alleged that the Defendant-driver crossed the center line and was involved in a head-on collision with the decedent’s vehicle.  As noted, included in the Complaint were allegations that the Defendant-driver was intoxicated and under the influence of a controlled substance at the time of the incident.

After the Plaintiff filed a Complaint alleging, in part, that the Defendant driver was negligent, careless and reckless, the Defendant-driver filed Preliminary Objections for a variety of reasons. In part, the Defendant asserted that the Complaint contained non-specific allegations of recklessness which should be stricken or dismissed. The Defendant also requested that the Plaintiffs’ claim for punitive damages also be stricken or dismissed.

After reviewing the current status of Pennsylvania law regarding the pleading of recklessness allegations and claim for punitive damages, the court noted that, while Pennsylvania is a fact-pleading state which requires a Plaintiff to plead the material facts upon which a cause of action is based, notwithstanding this rule, allegations regarding conditions of a tortfeasor’s mind may be alleged generally.

However, in his decision, even after referring to the Superior Court's decision in the case of Monroe v. CBH2O, LP, 286 A.3d 785, 798-99 (Pa. Super. 2022), Judge Linhardt noted that the exception to the general rules of pleading permitting a party’s state of mind to be pled generally does not dispense with the requirement that material facts constituting the conduct of a Defendant must also still be pled. See Op. at 7 citing Ammlung v. City of Chester, 302 A.2d 491, 497-98 (Pa. Super. 1973).

Judge Eric R. Linhardt
Lycoming Co.

Accordingly, Judge Linhardt held that, although a Plaintiff may generally allege that the Defendant- driver acted recklessly, the Plaintiff still “must allege sufficient material facts to support their general allegation and, if the material facts proposed in their Complaint operate to disprove their allegations of recklessness, those allegations must be dismissed.” See Op. at 7 citing with see, e.g. signal, Orange Stones Co. v. City of Reading, 87 A.3d 1014, 1025-26 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2014).

In this case, the court noted that the Plaintiff’s Complaint alleged that the Defendant acted recklessly because he operated a motor vehicle while intoxicated and under the influence of a controlled substance. The Complaint also alleged a number of ways in which the Defendant was reckless by violating several provisions of the Motor Vehicle Code.

Judge Linhardt pointed to case law confirming that the operation of a vehicle while under the influence is sufficient to support allegations that a Defendant driver acted recklessly and may be exposed to an award of punitive damages.

Accordingly, the court found that the Plaintiff had sufficiently pled their allegations of recklessness such that the Preliminary Objections were overruled. 

Judge Linhardt ended his decision by noting that, should facts emerge during discovery calling the Plaintiff’s allegations into question, the Defendant had the right to file an appropriate Motion.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.


Source: The Legal Intelligencer Common Pleas Case Alert, www.Law.com (Jan. 8, 2026).

Source of image:  Photo by Olia Danilevich on www.pexels.com.

Summary Judgment Granted Due to Lack of Actual or Constructive Notice of a Spill

In the case of Donahue v. Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, No. 2:24-68 (W.D. Pa. Nov. 13, 2025 Dodge, M.J.), the court granted summary judgment in a slip and fall case.

The court ruled that the mere existence of an allegedly harmful condition or the mere happening of an accident is not evidence of negligence nor does it create a presumption of negligence.

In this matter, the court confirmed that the Plaintiff did not have any evidence of any actual notice on the part of the Defendant of the alleged spill.

The court additionally found that evidence of seven (7) incidents over the previous five (5) years in other areas of the store were insufficient to impute knowledge on the part of the Defendant.

The court also noted that the Plaintiff failed to present any evidence as to the amount of time that the alleged spill existed.

Without such evidence, the court noted that a claim of constructive notice cannot be supported. The court also noted that constructive notice cannot be shown by a negative inference.

Any speculation about how long the alleged condition may have existed before the start of the surveillance video available was insufficient.

The court also held that liability cannot be based on the Defendant’s failure to adhere to its own inspection policies or that its inspection policies were generally inadequate. Rather, there may be a duty of care before there can be a breach.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.


I send thanks to Attorney James Beck of the Philadelphia office of the Reed Smith law firm for bringing this case to my attention.

Source of image:  Photo by Eva Bronzini on www.pexels.com.