Baby to get $480,000 in death of father

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

BY MATT MILLER



CARLISLE - A girl who was 8 months old when her father was killed in a Cumberland County traffic accident will receive an estimated $480,000 during her lifetime under an approved insurance settlement.



Legal wrangling over the crash that killed 19-year-old Nathan R. Hockenberry, a Big Spring High School student, might not be finished, however.



Karl Rominger, the lawyer for Hockenberry's estate, said yesterday that he might sue the maker of the Hummer H2 sport utility vehicle that collided with Hockenberry's Chevrolet Blazer at Routes 11 and 233 on May 14.



Rominger said that grounds for such a suit likely would be that Hummers, which are the civilian versions of the military's Humvees, are "too big" to be safe on America's highways.



The Hummer H2, a product of General Motors, is about 16 feet long and weighs more than 3 tons.



"We're still investigating the product-liability angle," Rominger said. "We don't file frivolous lawsuits. We're going to do a complete investigation, which for all we know may ultimately clear Hummer."



Michael Mogill, a professor at The Dickinson School of Law who specializes in product liability, said a lawsuit based on the Hummer's size could be a tough sell.



He said Rominger would have to prove that the manufacturer acted in an unreasonably dangerous manner in offering the vehicle to the public or that the Hummer is unreasonably dangerous because of some defect.



Big or not, the Hummer is licensed for highway use, he noted, and the size argument could be flipped to claim that some cars -- such as fuel-efficient foreign imports -- are too small to be safe on U.S. highways.



Rominger said he also is exploring the possibility of suing the state over safety issues at the intersection on the border of Penn and West Pennsboro townships.



There are flashing red and yellow warning lights there, and a signal upgrade is underway. The owner of a quarry, under development nearby, is paying for the upgrade.



A small homemade memorial to Hockenberry appeared soon after his death.



State police said Hockenberry, of South Newton Twp., was killed when his Blazer collided with a Hummer H2 driven by Darlene E. Hall, 44, of Bidwell, Ohio.



The settlement approved by county Judge Edward E. Guido calls for Progressive insurance, which covered both Hall and Hockenberry, to pay $155,000, which Rominger said equals the coverage caps on the two policies.