WRONGFUL DEATH Court upholds decision in ruling

Two Philadelphia men were killed on their way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to overturn a June decision by the Ohio Supreme Court holding two Pittsburgh insurers responsible for paying up to $2.5 million in a wrongful death case.
The case will go back to Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to determine the amount American International Group Inc., and National Union Fire Insurance Co., must pay the victims' families.
Justin L. Reese and Stephen M. Wiley, both of Philadelphia, were killed in 1996 when their car was hit on the Ohio Turnpike by a tractor-trailer driven by Lawrence P. Yob, then an employee of Bath Transport Inc.
Yob and Bath Transport are both from Bethlehem, Pa., according to Atty. Clair M. Carlin of Poland, who represents the victims' families.
Carlin said the men had recently graduated from Pennsylvania State University and were on their way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland as a graduation present.
Filed suits in '97
The men's families filed wrongful death suits in 1997 against Yob, Bath and their insurance companies in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
The trial court ruled that the insurers must pay, but the 11th District Court of Appeals overturned that decision.
The matter then went before the Ohio Supreme Court, which ruled in June that the insurers should pay.
The insurance companies asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn that decision, but the high court ruled this week that it would not hear the case, effectively ending the litigation, Carlin said.
"They decided to leave the decision up to the state court," he said.
Carlin said Ohio's was the first Supreme Court to rule this way on such cases.
bjackson@vindy.com