PA Long-Arm Statute Reaches Out-of-State Civil Rights Violations in
TransCor Suit

On May 5, 2000, Jerry Irons, an AIDS patient was arrested in Maryland on an
Ohio warrant. On May 17, TransCor, a company that transports prisoners,
took custody of Irons. It transported him through several states, including
Pennsylvania, ignoring his pleas for AIDS treatment. Medical staff at a
Massachusetts prison suggested that Irons be released to a hospital, which
TransCor guards did on May 23, 2000. The next day Irons' mother drove him
to a Philadelphia hospital, where he received surgery and other treatment
for the damage caused by his lack of treatment while in transit. He sued
numerous defendants in the U.S. Dist. Court for the East. Dist. Of
Pennsylvania, claiming deliberate indifference to his medical needs.

The court considered the motions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction filed
by all of the defendants. Several out-of-state counties, municipalities and
prison wardens were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. But the court also
found that the Pennsylvania long-arm statute provided jurisdiction over
several TransCor guards in their individual capacities for their tortuous
conduct while they were in Pennsylvania, even though they lived in Kentucky
and Tennessee. Thus, the case was allowed to proceed against them. See:
Irons v. TransCor America, US DC ED PA, Case No. 01-4328 (2002).

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