By Holly Herman
of the Reading Eagle

Berks County, PA - The mother of a 19-year-old woman killed in a car driven by Sophie K. Selig in September 2004 will get $90,000 under a settlement approved by a Berks County judge.

  Kathleen M. Oakes of Topton will receive the money from the other driver’s insurance company for the death of her daughter, Theresa M. Frymoyer, according to the agreement, available Tuesday.

  On Sept. 25, 2004, Selig, now 22, was driving drunk the wrong way on Barclay Street in Longswamp Township when her car collided at State Street with a pickup truck driven by Matthew Lawhorne of Macungie, according to court records.

  The crash killed Selig's friends Frymoyer and Mary R. Seng.

  A third friend, Stephanie E. Clauser, now 22, of Laureldale, was badly injured.

  All four women were 2003 graduates of Brandywine Heights High School.

  On June 19, 2006, Selig was sentenced to two to 23 months in the county jail.

   Oakes, Seng's mother, Diane M. Seng of Douglass Township, and Clauser have filed civil lawsuits against Selig and other defendants.

  Oakes' lawyer, Robert J. McGee of Allentown, said the settlement Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl approved is fair.

  "This brought a small amount of closure for Theresa's mom, and leaves us able to focus on who we think are the main parties responsible for this", McGee said.

  The remaining defendants are Selig, Maxatawny Township, Norfolk Southern Railway, Norfolk, Va., Traffic Service Sales and Rentals, Allentown, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

  Lawhorne's lawyer, Steven T. Williams of Bethlehem, said Lawhorne's insurance company, Progressive Insurance Co. of Plymouth Meeting, Montgomery County, agreed to pay the settlement even though Lawhorne was not responsible for the crash.

  Williams said insurance companies in wrongful-death lawsuits typically agree to settle the cases even when their clients are not responsible to avoid costly trials.

  "My client had the right-of-way and wasn't speeding," he said. "This is a sad case. I feel sorry for the families."

  Oakes had received $75,000 from a life insurance settlement and is seeking another $200,000 in damages from the remaining defendants.

  Clauser is seeking $600,000 for suffering a fractured pelvis and a collapsed right lung.

   All three plaintiffs allege Selig caused the crash because she was driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.10, which is five times the legal limit for drivers under 21. Selig was 19 at the time of the crash.

  Selig's lawyer, James F. Swartz of Bethlehem, said Selig is not responsible for the deaths because the road signs were confusing.

•Contact reporter Holly Herman at
610-478-6291 or hherman@readingeagle.com.

      Cabrera faced at least four to eight years in prison during the two-day trial, said Brian Collins, Cabrera's attorney.

   The prosecution's case relied heavily on an identification by William Delgado, a narcotics investigator with the state attorney general's office. Delgado testified that he saw a woman remove a package of cocaine from under her shirt and hand it to a man police eventually arrested for drug dealing.

   The transaction Cabrera was alleged to have participated in occurred on July 25, 2001, in a parking lot behind an Allentown convenience store. Authorities claimed that Orlando Santana was sitting inside a van parked behind the store and had negotiated a price of $4,700 with an undercover agent for the sale of 120 grams of cocaine.

   Santana held his hand outside the door and the woman handed over the package. Delgado testified that he saw the woman's image in the rearview mirror.

   But during the trial, Santana testified that the woman was not Cabrera, and Delgado didn't recall a prominent feature on the woman's face, a mole, Collins said.

    "I think what was lacking in the commonwealth's case was other corroborating evidence." Collins said.

    Another defendant, Jose Mendez, who was charged with delivery of a controlled substance and conspiracy, is awaiting sentencing. He also testified at the trial and said he didn't know Cabrera, Collins said.

   Assistant District Attorney Paul Bernadino prosecuted the case. He couldn't be reached for comment Thursday.

   Santana pleaded guilty to four counts of delivering a controlled substance and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 19.

   Cabrera's uncle, Felix cabrera, faced similar charges as part of the same investigation. Lehigh County Judge Robert Steinberg dismissed the charges against Felix Cabrera in May, court records state.

   Former Bath resident said persistent ringing began after incident at Allentown job site.

By DEBBIE GARLICKI
Of The Morning Call

   A former Bath man who received permanent ear injuries while doing electrical work at an Alburtis company was awarded $275,000 Friday by a Lehigh County jury.

   Dennis Kassick, 43, who now lives in Hamburg, said he suffers from persistent ringing in his ears as a result of an incident at Acme Cryogenics in April 1999.

   Kassick, an electrical foreman with a company called Remco, was working inside a 40 foot-long cylinder filled with pipes, according to his suit filed last year.

   He was lying on his side with his left ear against the inside of the cylinder when an Acme employee climbed on top of the cylinder and hit it with a sledgehammer, said Kassick's lawyer, Robert Magee of Allentown.

   The employee, Timothy Bauer of Coplay, denied that he was on top of the cylinder and said he didn't strike it.

   Magee presented a witness who testified that he saw the incident.

   Kassick was in pain, and his vision was blurred, but he finished the work, according to his complaint.

   He later had a severe headache, became dizzy and experienced ringing in his ears, Magee said.

   Kassick visited his family doctor and two ear specialists and was diagnosed with tinnitus, an unending ringing in the ears that he will have for life.

   He sued Bauer for negligence and Acme because he claimed that the company, as Bauer's employer, was vicariously liable under the law. Both defendants were represented by attorney Ray Swan of Reading.

   Magee argued that even if Bauer was playing a practical joke on Kassick, he should have realized the possible consequences of his actions.

   The defendants argued that Kassick was partly responsible because he should have been wearing earplugs that were provided by his employer and Acme.

   Kassick said he had been in similar situations before and hadn't needed earplugs.

   After a two-day trial, jurors deliberated about three hours before finding that Acme and Bauer were negligent and that their negligence caused Kassick's injuries.

   The jury also decided that Kassick was negligent, but that his negligence didn't cause or contribute to his injuries.

Reporter Debbie Garlicki
610-820-6764
debbie.garlicki@mcall.com

   Hurt in strip club, the former Allentown woman is studying at Harvard.

   SCRANTON (AP) - A former stripper who was badly burned while performing her fire-breathing routine was awarded more than $350,000 in damages.

   In its award to Patricia Ryan, 36, the Luzerne County jury of eight men and four women Wednesday found that the Cabaret Nightclub was 70 percent negligent for the accident in 1994.

   Because the jury found Ryan also bore some responsibility for the accident, the jury's award of $518,790 will be reduced by 30 percent, meaning she will get $363,153.

   William Barrett, attorney for the Kingston nightclub, said he was "very disappointed" by the verdict.

   He said it was too soon to say whether the club would appeal.

   Ryan and her attorney, Robert Magee, said they were pleased with the award.

   Ryan is enrolled at Harvard University and hopes to become a physician, possibly specializing in the treatment of burns.

   At the time of the 1994 accident, Ryan, formerly of Allentown, performed a repertoire of exotic dances that included a fire-breathing act.

BY MICHAEL A. RICCARDI
of the Law Weekly

The fact finder in a driving under the influence case may hear evidence on the presence of controlled substances in the defendant's blood sample, a Lehigh County trial judge has ruled.

    Prosecution experts may provide an opinion on a driver's impairment as a result of drug use in a driving under the influence case, subject to qualification under the Frye rule. But the state cannot point to specific levels of drug present in the defendant's blood as evidence of impairment, the court said.

   In Commonwealth vs. Hausman, IICS Case No. 02-0943 (C.P. Lehigh May 31, 2002) Steinberg, J. (10 pages), the defendant, Christine Hausman, was charged with driving under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalis. Hausman was charged after being treated at the scene of a two-car accident in the city of Allentown.

   Hausman told emergency medical personnel that she had used heroin before the accident, in which she rear-ended a car that had been stopped at a red light. She repeated the admission to a police officer. She was treated for heroin use, and it was determined that she had 325 nanograms of morphine per milliliter of blood.

   Hausman asked the court to suppress the drug test results, and also to enter an order precluding expert testimony on the degree of impairment resulting from her apparent drug use, as reflected in the blood test.

Steinberg emphasized that she volunteered information about her drug use, including her possession of a syringe, to medical personnel and police officers.

   Steinberg emphasized that she volunteered information about her drug use, including her possession of a syringe, to medical personnel and police officers.
   

   Steinberg also denied the motion to preclude expert testimony from a forensic toxicologist, but said that the court would hold a Frye hearing to determine the reliability of the scientific evidence.

   In a footnote, Steinberg quoted Nevada's impairment law, observing that blood content of 50 nanograms of morphine per milliliter rendered a person unable to lawfully operate a motor vehicle. Hausman's morphine content was more than six times the Nevada legal limit. But the drug content of Hausman's blood could not stand on its own to make a case of impaired driving, Steinberg said.

   "We agree with the defense that there is no standard in Pennsylvania for the level of a controlled substance in the blood that would render a person incapable of safely operating her vehicle, " Steinberg wrote.

   The court went on to state in the foot-note that Nevada's legal limits for blood-drug content have been criticized as too low, encompassing persons who would not be impaired by the prohibited amount of drug use.

    The blood test results, however, may have relevance in the case and may come into evidence, subject to the Frye test, Steinberg said.

   At the Frye hearing, the judge said, the state must demonstrate through the use of scientific texts and other indicia that the drug content of Hausman's blood leads to a finding that she was impaired at the time of the accident.

    Lehigh County Senior Deputy District Attorney Richard D. Directot handled the prosecution. Brian J. Collins of Worth Magee & Fisher in Allentown was defense counsel to Hausman.

In Summit Hill, dog attacked her after she delivered a package.

BY BOB LEYLO
of The Morning Call

   A Summit Hill postal worker who was mauled by a 105-pound mixed-breed dog has been awarded more than $85,000 as a result of a lawsuit she filed against the animal's owner.

   The dog, named Ziggy, attacked Mary Sloboda on Aug. 5, 2002, as she delivered mail to Patricia and Joseph Lipar at 202 W. Fell St.

   Sloboda opened a screen door and put a package inside the house that was too large to fit into the Lipar's mailbox. She shut the door, but the dog ran into it. The door opened, and the dog attacked Sloboda outside.

   "I was walking away from the house, and it just nailed me." Sloboda said Monday. "It ripped at my bag, than it bit my arm when I reached for my spray."

   The dog bit her right elbow and arm. It also bit her head and buttocks.

   Postmaster Jerry Haggerty arrived and took Sloboda to an emergency room, where she was treated for two deep puncture wounds and two cuts to the forearm, a bruise to the right elbow, scratches, two puncture wounds on her buttocks and a cut on her left ear.

   The bite to the elbow was so severe that it punctured a tendon, Sloboda got an infection and spent two days in a hospital getting antibiotics intravenously.

   She later needed surgery to repair the tendon and missed 7 1/2 months of work.

   Sloboda sued in Carbon County Court, and the case went to trial in November. But the dog didn't make it to the end of it.

   Patricia Lipar, whose husband died a few months before the trial, went home for lunch during one day of testimony and found Ziggy had died, said Sloboda's lawyer, Robert Magee. "We postponed the trial for half a day." said Magee.

   A jury found that the Lipars were 100 percent responsible for the attack. But a decision on how much their insurance company, Erie Insurance Group, should pay was handled separately.

   Normally, another jury would have been brought in to decide damages. But Magee and lawyer Frank G. Procyk of Allentown, who represented Erie, chose binding arbitration to save time and money.

   Procyk was in court Monday and could not be reached for comment.

   The arbitrator, lawyer James T. Huber of Allentown, last week awarded Sloboda $85,000. Magee said Erie has already paid it.

   "I'm glad it's over." Sloboda said. "It took entirely too long."

   Sloboda, who worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 10 years, said she used to carry treats and befriend dogs on her route.

   But now, she said, she avoids most dogs.

   "There are very few I go near." she said.

robert.laylo@mcall.com
610-379-3223

   A Lehigh County jury has sentenced a man to life in prison for the murder of a 23-year old man in a city diner in 2001.

   The jury convicted 26-year-old Nicholas Hudson late Monday of first-degree murder. After hearing a dispassionate argument from the prosecutor and an impassioned plea from the defense lawyer, the jury decided not to impose the death penalty this afternoon.

   Hudson shot Daniel Cruz, 21, eight times in an Allentown diner in December 2001. Chief Deputy District attorney Matthew Weintraub said the defense presented no mitigating evidence that could be used to spare Hudson's life. He argued that Hudson's actions in firing a gun in a diner with employees and customers endangered other people, including Cruz's girlfriend, and warranted the death penalty.

   Defense lawyer Brian Collins argued that life in prison without any chance of parole is punishment enough.

- Reporting by Debbie Garlicki, The Morning Call

     The drunken driver, Sophie K. Selig, now 21, Maxatawny, was sentenced June 19 to two to 23 months in the county jail in the Sept. 25, 2004, crash that killed her friends, Frymoyer and Mary R. Seng.

   Selig was driving the wrong way on Barclay Street, Longswamp Township, when her car collided with a pickup truck driven by Matthew Lawhorne, 19, Macungie, at the State Street intersection, witnesses testified during Selig's trial.

   A third Selig friend, Stephanie E. Clauser, now 21, of Rockland Township survived the crash with a broken hip.

   All four women in the car were 2003 graduates of Brandywine Heights High School. Frymoyer's lawyer, Robert J. Magee of Allentown, said Oakes' lawsuit is still pending against Selig and Lawhorne.

   Magee said Selig caused the crash because she was driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.1, which is five times the legal limit for drivers under 21. Selig was 19 at the time of the crash.

   Meanwhile, Seng's mother, Diane M. Seng, District Township, has filed a lawsuit in Philadelphia County Court seeking $500,000 in damages.

   Defendants named in Seng's suit are Selig, Lawhorne, railroad company Norfolk Southern Corp. of Philadelphia and the state Department of Transportation. Seng's lawyer, Bart m. Beier of Pittsburgh, said the accident occurred near a railroad crossing where posted traffic signs were confusing.

   Lawyers for the defendants in the Seng suit asked Schmehl to transfer the Seng case to Berks. A hearing is scheduled later this month.

   Magee said Oakes does not object to the Seng case being heard in Berks.

   Selig, a junior at Millersville University in Lancaster County, was convicted March 10 of drunken driving and recklessly endangering another person.

   She was acquitted of homicide by vehicle while driving drunk, which carries a mandatory sentence of six to 12 years in state prison.

   As part of the sentence, Judge James M. Bucci also ordered Selig to speak at schools about the dangers of driving drunk.