Eisenberg Rothweiler attorneys Stewart Eisenberg and Todd Schoenhaus recently filed a lawsuit in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas against Amazon, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and a number of other companies after a van making Amazon deliveries struck and killed a cyclist.
According to the complaint, on the clear and sunny afternoon of September 18, 2017, a delivery person driving a van for Last Mile Delivered, a company that delivers Amazon packages, tried to make a left turn from the center lane of a busy, five-lane street (with dedicated turn lanes) in Southampton, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. The van was provided to Last Mile by Thruway Direct, a ground delivery services company after it rented the van from Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
When the driver tried to turn, he crashed head-on into Matthew Petcel, a 50-year old single father who served as the primary caretaker for his then nine-year-old daughter. Mr. Petcel was riding his bike on the shoulder of the road. As a result of the collision, Mr. Petcel suffered catastrophic injuries to his head, neck, and body, including facial and skull fractures, organ lacerations, and brain hemorrhages. He was pronounced dead at the scene an hour later.
The lawsuit, brought by Mr. Petcel’s sister, Carolyn Rahder, on behalf of his daughter and his sister (as the administrator of his estate), alleges that the driver of the truck, Last Mile Delivered, Amazon, Thruway Direct, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car were each negligent, grossly negligent, and reckless for their role in Mr. Petcel’s death.
“Amazon and the companies it works with seem to value the speed of their deliveries over the safety of pedestrians and cyclists their delivery vehicles share the road with,” said Eisenberg Rothweiler attorney Todd Schoenhaus. “Had the defendants in this case done what they are legally required to do to ensure that the van that eventually killed Mr. Petcel would have been operated safely, Ms. Rahder would still have her brother, and Mr. Petcel’s daughter would still have her father.”
This lawsuit, captioned Carolyn Rahder v. Hanzley Phillippeaux, et al., is case number 190901308 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
