By Beth Gillin
Inquirer Staff Writer

A package delivery company has been ordered to pay $5.7 million to the family of a community volunteer who was killed in December after her car was struck head-on by a van driven by a company courier.

Joel Julien, 30, was using his own van to deliver packages for his employer, Choice Courier Systems Inc. of New York City, on Dec. 9 when the van skidded into oncoming traffic on Bryn Mawr Avenue, colliding with a car driven by Florence J. Gormley, 50, of Wynnewood.

Gormley died an hour later at Bryn Mawr Hospital. She had been a president of the Mothers Guild at Sacred Heart Academy for Girls, coordinator of the girls’ tennis team at the Overbrook Country Club and was active in raising funds for St. Joseph’s Prep School and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children.

An eight-member federal jury ruled Thursday that Choice Courier was responsible for Gormley’s death because it had failed to inspect the vehicle owned by Julien, which had bald and fraying tires.

Attorney A. Roy DeCaro said the award was one of the largest ever granted in the state for a single accident in a wrongful-death case.

The $1.8 million award for compensatory damages, DeCaro said, “showed that this jury really understood the value of a homemaker and did not discount the worth of Mrs. Gormley’s life just because she didn’t have a track record earning money.”