Last week, Bob Berring, Jr., a college freshman at the University
of Pittsburgh finished his final exams and prepared to travel
to his home in eastern Pennsylvania for the holiday season. Because
of the distance, and not wanting to drive to western Pennsylvania
to pick Bob up at the end of the semester, his father allowed
Bob to use the family's 1994 Ford Bronco for transportation to
and from the college. During August, the Bronco was approximately
17 months old and had a total of 8,500 miles on the odometer.
While both Bob and his father had, from time to time, briefly
looked at the tires of the Bronco, neither had examined them for
defects nor noticed anything defective about the tires.
As Bob was driving his father's Bronco along the Pennsylvania
Turnpike near Pittsburgh, a tire blew out. He coasted to a stop
in his left-hand lane of the traffic. Unfortunately, there was
no place for traffic to pull off the highway on the left because
of highway construction. Except for the flat tire, however, the
Bronco was not completely disabled. Parking in the left-hand lane
of traffic along 1-76 (East) is illegal. Because of the volume
of traffic on 1-76, Bob, turned on the safety flashers, got out
of the car, and remained near the vehicle. He decided to leave
the car parked in the left-hand lane of the highway until a state
trooper arrived on the scene.
Unfortunately, Bob had few options: he could either remain near
the car and wait, or risk running across interstate 76.
Shortly afterwards, Pennsylvania State Troopers Heath and her
Partner Jennings spotted the Bronco and pulled over in front of
it. Officer Heath turned on the flashing lights of the police
car to alert other drivers of the problem. Bob approached Heath
and began to explain his situation. Heath told Bob to get back
inside and she would direct him off the highway. Heath then got
out of the police car to direct traffic so that Bob could drive
forward and across to the right-hand side of the highway to a
parking lane. While Heath was in the traveled portion of the highway
and while directing traffic, she was struck by a car which swerved
out of the left-hand lane. Terry Bradshaw, the driver of this
car, had been unable to stop because of defective brakes. Terry
had heard his brakes "squeal" for several months prior
to this incident and had experienced a brief episode of brake
failure during October. Terry had planned to have the brakes checked
at the end of the month.
If State Trooper Heath attempts to use the Pennsylvania state
courts to sue Bob, his father, and Terry for her injuries, will
she succeed? Assume all parties are Pennsylvania residents. Evaluate
Heath's claims.
