Menendez-Aponte, Luis; Ferreyra, Edgardo

Lonnie B. Richardson, P.A. (Michael Compo and Lonnie Richardson)

Motion for Summary Judgment for Defendant

Senior Partner Luis Menendez-Aponte, Esq., and Appellate Partner Edgardo Ferreyra, Esq., obtained a summary judgment in an auto negligence matter styled Manuel Castillo v. Ulysses Lopez. The primary issue on the case involved whether Plaintiff had presented evidence to establish he was even a passenger in the vehicle crashed by Defendant. Plaintiff was not listed on the traffic crash report. The Defense argued it was entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law because Plaintiff had failed to present evidence or an explanation as to why his name was not included in the traffic crash report, and thus the presumption under Florida Statute section 316.068(2)(g) that he was not involved in the accident was unrebutted. The Defense argued that this omission from the traffic crash report was fatal to Plaintiff’s negligence action, because Florida statutory law holds that in “[t]he absence of information in such written crash reports regarding the existence of passengers in the motor vehicles involved in the crash constitutes a rebuttable presumption that no such passengers were involved in the reported crash.” Fla. Stat. § 316.068(2)(g). The vehicle Plaintiff claimed he was travelling in had four passengers, all of which had met earlier in the evening at a bar. Plaintiff claimed that immediately after the accident, he walked away from the accident scene and did not wait for police to arrive. Three of the four passengers did not recognize Plaintiff at all, and the officer would not amend his report to include Plaintiff because he did not recognize him as being a part of the accident. Only one of the passengers placed Plaintiff in the vehicle, but she was admittedly drunk, stoned, and her account directly contradicted Plaintiff’s version of events in that she testified that Plaintiff actually remained on the scene and spoke with the police. The crux of our argument was that Plaintiff failed to present “credible evidence” to overcome the rebuttable presumption under section 316.068(2)(g). Therefore, Defendant was entitled to summary judgment. The Court agreed. Read more