Ross v. Wall Street Systems

RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION Pursuant to Sixth Circuit Rule 206 Argued: February 2, 2005 OPINION The plaintiff, Terry Ross, was seriously injured in a four-vehicle chain-reaction collision on October 24, 2000, when his pickup truck was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer rig driven by Richard Martin, in which the ostensible owner/operator, Willie Conway, was a passenger. Because the Conway rig carried a placard indicating that it was leased to Wall Street Systems, a long-distance hauling company, Ross sued both Wall Street Systems and its insurance carrier, Gulf Insurance Company, in Kentucky state court, claiming negligence. The defendants removed the case to federal court on the basis of diversity jurisdiction and filed a motion for summary judgment. In support of the motion, they produced evidence that the lease executed between Willie Conway and Wall Street Systems on September 19, 2000, had been unilaterally terminated by Wall Street Systems on September 25, 2000, a month before the accident involving plaintiff Ross. The termination process complied with a provision in the lease that permitted unilateral termination on one day's notice sent in writing to the address provided in the lease agreement. There is no dispute that the notice sent by Wall Street systems complied with the terms of the lease. The dispute is over whether it was effective.