Philadelphia County Court
PHILADELPHIA – Taking students to Philadelphia every once-in-a-while doesn’t mean a bus company can be sued there over an accident that occurred in Lebanon County, a state appeals court has ruled.
Shanique Warren’s case is one of many in which appellate courts have had to decide jurisdictional issues as plaintiff lawyers continue to try to sue in their favorite court – the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Juries in Philadelphia have become known for the willingness to hammer corporate defendants with massive verdicts.
In Warren’s case against Brightbill Transportation, she alleged the company does business that is substantial enough in Philadelphia to subject it to court jurisdiction there. But the company, which shuttles students from Lancaster and Lebanon counties, told the Superior Court that only .0003% of its trips in the 2023-24 school year went to Philadelphia, mainly for field trips.
“We therefore agree with Brightbill that its corporate objective is to provide students with transportation to and from school and activities in Lebanon and Lancaster counties,” Judge Jack Panella wrote in an opinion issued yesterday.
“Transporting the students to and from their schools are necessary for its existence. However, transporting students into Philadelphia for field trips is merely incidental to their main business of transporting students to and from their schools.”
The bus accident occurred Sept. 1, 2022, and Warren’s lawyers at Simon & Simon sued in 2024 in Philadelphia. They alleged Brightbill regularly conducts business in Philadelphia County, and a trial judge there agreed.
Brightbill’s buses made it to Philadelphia only 23 times in the 23-24 school year, which accounted for about $3,600 in revenue. Its total revenue for that year was more than $19 million.
“We can readily understand the conscientious effort the trial court made in applying the standards established by our Supreme Court; however, we find the trial court erred in finding the act of transporting students into Philadelphi for field trips were quality acts under the uncontested facts of this case,” Panella wrote.
“They are not essential to Brightbill’s corporate objective of transporting students to and from school. They simply aiding its main purpose of providing transportation as directed by I ts clients, and are therefore incidental acts.”
The state Supreme Court last year refused to let lawyers sue in Philadelphia over a fatal wreck in Western Pennsylvania. Defendants included companies that do business in Philadelphia, like Federal Express and UPS.
