The grandson of a woman struck and killed by a vehicle while shopping for produce at a farm stand has sued those involved.
The suit seeks compensation from Duda’s Farm Inc., Donna Pixler-Davis and Jerrey Hoyt for the “severe and serious emotional distress” of watching his grandmother “being struck, critically injured, and suffering from her critical injuries prior to her death by the vehicle operated by Defendant Hoyt as she was standing at the counter of the produced (sic) and purchasing sweet corn on August 10, 2020.”
Steven A. Ciuni, the minor grandson’s father, filed the suit in Monongalia County Circuit Court through an attorney Wednesday. While the minor is named in the suit and public record, The Dominion Post is not naming him.
Pixler-Davis owns the property off Fairmont Road, where Duda’s Farm set up a produce stand at which Pamela Ciuni was struck and killed, according to the suit.
Ciuni went to the stand about 4 p.m. Aug. 10, 2020, while her grandson and long-time partner waited in the car. Hoyt had just finished his shopping at the stand and was attempting to leave when he lost control of his vehicle, hit the accelerator and drove into the produce stand, striking Ciuni. The suit states her cause of death was “multiple traumatic injuries” from an “auto-pedestrian collision.”
The suit claims Duda’s and Pixler-Davis were negligent in failing to place low-speed vehicle barriers at the stand to protect its customers, while Hoyt was negligent in the operation of his vehicle.
This suit is the second filed against the same three defendants. Albert Claudio Jr., the long-time partner who was also waiting in the car while Ciuni shopped, filed a suit, which makes nearly identical claims, in December.
That suit is still ongoing.
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