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A man who was injured when a large branch fell on him as he was walking along a sidewalk failed to prove that two landscaping companies he sued actually owed him a duty of care, a Pennsylvania judge has said.

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Frederica Massiah-Jackson dismissed landscaping companies Anthony's Landscaping and Tree Service and IVS Landscaping from the case Matthews v. Prospect Crozer, after the companies filed summary judgment motions arguing they owed no duty to keep the plaintiff, Lonnie Matthews, safe.

Coming less than two months after the court noted that Matthews settled his claims against Prospect Crozer, which owned the property where the incident occurred, the ruling may put an end to the case, depending on whether it is appealed.

According to Massiah-Jackson, although Matthews contended that the companies assumed a duty when they did landscaping work on the property, the work the defendants performed did not involve maintaining the tree at issue, and therefore, they did not assume any duty to Matthews.

"Without actual assumption of the undertaking, that is, maintenance and inspection of trees, there can be no correlative legal duty to perform that undertaking with care," Massiah-Jackson said.

The incident, according to Massiah-Jackson, occurred in March 2018 when a large branch fell from a tree as Matthews was walking along the sidewalk on a Propsect Crozer-owned property in the Drexel Hill section of Philadelphia. The branch, Massiah-Jackson said, caused serious and permanent injuries.

Matthews sued seven defendants, including IVS Landscaping and Anthony's Landscaping and Tree Service.

Massiah-Jackson noted there was no contractual relationship between Matthews and the landscaping companies, and so the plaintiff based his claim on the Restatement (Second) of Torts and alleged the companies had been negligent.

According to Massiah-Jackson, Anthony's Landscaping primarily performed snow removal for Prospect Crozer. She also cited deposition testimony from Prospect Crozer's project manager, who said that more than 10 years earlier Anthony's Landscaping had removed overgrown trees from another property, but not the property where the incident occurred. The company had also been called to remove the branch after it had fallen on Matthews, Massiah-Jackson said.

Turning to IVS Landscaping, Massiah-Jackson cited the company's contract with Prospect Crozer, which showed it performed work including cutting grass, weeding, pruning, mulching and trash pick up.

However, with regard to both companies, Massiah-Jackson said the work they performed did not show that they assumed a duty of care that would subject them to liability.

"In the case at bar there is nothing in the words of the contract to impose a duty on IVS Landscaping to inspect, maintain or make recommendations about the safety of the trees on the Garrett Road property," she said. "Rather, mulching, grass cutting, weeding and clean-ups do not encompass a contractual undertaking to protect plaintiff-Matthews from a falling tree branch."

Philadelphia attorney Jonathan M. Cohen represented Matthews. He declined to comment on the case, citing the possibility of appeal.

Timothy Kepner of William J. Ferren & Associates, who represented IVS Landscaping, did not return a call seeking comment. Brian Legrow of Deasey Mahoney & Valentini, who represented Anthony's Landscaping, said he was pleased with the ruling.