A judge will rule by the end of the year whether the attorney in a civil suit representing the driver of a rented U-Haul truck who struck and killed another man in a December 2022 crash in Cranberry Township should be disqualified because he also represents U-Haul and its insurance company.

At a hearing Thursday, Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Kelley Streib instructed attorneys to file briefs containing arguments and said she would issue a ruling before the end of the year.

Attorney Fred Rabner represents Jennifer Forsyth, the administrator of the estate of Bertram Forsyth, who was killed in the crash. Rabner argues attorney Richard Wickersham Jr., who represents Darren M. Martin, 37, of Aliquippa, who is serving a prison sentence for the crash, should be disqualified because he also represents U-Haul and its insurance provider, Republic Western Insurance Company.

Martin pleaded guilty to a felony charge of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and a misdemeanor charge for his third DUI offense. He was sentenced in December 2023 to serve 9 years and 7 months to 21 years in prison.

Rabner also is representing Forsyth in a civil suit against U-Haul, which is being represented by the Butler law firm Dillon, McCandless, King, Coulter and Graham.

Testifying remotely Thursday from state prison in Huntingdon County, Martin said he met with Wickersham and signed and gave a verbal waiver of any conflict of interest.

After seeing Rabner’s petition to disqualify Wickersham, Martin said he again signed and gave a verbal and written waiver for the conflict.

“I do,” Martin said, when asked if he wants to be represented by Wickersham and co-counsel Christopher Gee.

Martin said he spoke with Rabner twice before sending him a letter in June of this year to “figure out what was going on” after another attorney, who he didn’t know was representing him, contacted him in prison and asked him to give a deposition. He said he knew Rabner was representing Forsyth.

He said Rabner visited him in the Butler County Prison after he was sentenced and told him he did not need an attorney because Forsyth wasn’t going to sue him. Rabner denied making that statement to Martin.

Martin said Rabner then called him in December 2024 while he was in state prison. He said Rabner asked for help in locating a witness and told him that he filed a suit against him.

He said he wrote the letter to Rabner after being told about the suit.

Rabner then argued that Wickersham’s conflict of interest cannot be waived under the law.

Wickersham said Rabner filed the suit against Martin two years after the statute of limitations expired and said he found it insulting that Rabner is accusing him of misconduct.

The suit was filed in May of this year.