B. Did Plaintiff Cause Delay?

Second, Owens-Corning maintains that Kirk was responsible for the delay because she filed simultaneous federal and state court actions and additionally failed to make an application to remand the federal action from the multidistrict docket when settlement negotiations proved fruitless. Our review of the applicability of Rule 238 in a diversity case is plenary. Fauber, 876 F.2d at 329. Rule 238 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure states in relevant part: (a)(1) At the request of the plaintiff in a civil action seeking monetary relief for . . . death[,] . . . damages for delay shall be added to the amount of compensatory damages awarded against each defendant . . . found to be liable to the plaintiff in the verdict of a jury . . . . (2) Damages for delay shall be awarded for the period of time (i) in an action commenced before August 1, 1989, from the date the plaintiff first filed a complaint or from a date one year after the accrual of the cause of action, whichever is later, up to the date of the . . . verdict . . . . (3) Damages for delay shall be calculated at the rate equal to the prime rate as listed in the first edition of the Wall Street Journal published for each calendar year for which the damages are awarded, plus one percent, not compounded. (b) The period of time for which damages for delay shall be calculated under subdivision (a)(2) shall exclude the period of time, if any, (1) after which the defendant has made a written offer of (i) settlement in a specified sum with prompt cash payment to the plaintiff, or (ii) a structured settlement underwritten by a financially responsible entity, and continued that offer in effect for at least ninety days or until commencement of trial, whichever first occurs, which offer was not accepted and the plaintiff did not recover by award, verdict or decision, exclusive of damages for delay, more than 125 percent of either the specified sum or the actual cost of the structured settlement plus any cash payment to the plaintiff; or (2) during which the plaintiff caused delay of the trial. Pa. R. Civ. P. 238 (1988) (emphasis added). According to the plain language of the rule, a defendant must pay delay damages unless the delay falls within the excludable time as set forth in the rule. Owens- Corning concedes that it did not make a settlement offer which would satisfy the rule. Thus, the only other way for the defendant to be relieved from paying delay damages would be if the plaintiff caused the delay. According to Owens-Corning, but for the plaintiff's strategic decision to file a federal asbestos action, the matter could have been resolved long ago in state court. Here, Kirk would have been forced to abandon her remedy in federal court and seek relief only in the state forum. To adopt the rule of law as advocated by Owens-Corning, we would be required to hold that delay is per se attributable to a plaintiff anytime a plaintiff files a diversity action in federal court when a suitable state forum exists. Nothing in Rule 238 contemplates that a plaintiff must forgo any rights in order to be entitled to delay damages, and we are unwilling to adopt such a proposition. In support of its argument that Kirk was responsible for the delay in failing to request a remand from the multidistrict docket, Owens-Corning relies on Babich v. Pittsburgh & New England Trucking Co., 386 Pa. Super. 482, 563 A.2d 168 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1989). In that case, the plaintiff's motion for delay damages pursuant to Rule 238 was denied by the trial court and plaintiff appealed. Babich, 386 Pa. Super. at 487, 563 A.2d at 171. In assessing who was responsible for the almost seven year delay between the commencement of suit and the jury verdict, the court observed: [T]he chief reasons for delay in this case cannot be attributed to defendants. [One of the defendants] filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court six months after [plaintiff's] complaint was filed and [plaintiff] did not successfully obtain relief from the automatic stay until approximately two years and four months later despite cooperation from counsel for the bankruptcy and counsel for the insurance company. The other primary delay in the case was [plaintiff's] failure to place the case at issue in a speedy fashion. [Plaintiff] fails to point to any delay attributable to defendants and we find none upon review of the record. Babich, 386 Pa. Super. at 487, 563 A.2d at 171. Owens-Corning argues that because Kirk did not seek a remand from the multidistrict docket, she failed to obtain relief from the MDL stay just as the plaintiff in Babich failed to obtain relief from the automatic stay. Owens-Corning's reliance on Babich is misplaced. In that case plaintiff could have sought relief and moved the trial along, because opposing counsel was cooperating with and assisting counsel. Here, however, according to Judge Weiner's Pretrial Order, the case could be remanded for trial only if there was a finding that the defendant was acting in bad faith during the settlement negotiations. To the extent that Owens-Corning is found to have acted in bad faith, this would militate against a finding that delay was caused by the plaintiff.