Tampa Senior Partner Jeffrey Benson, Esq., obtained summary judgment in Citrus County in matter styled Garcia v. Pittman. Plaintiff claimed he was crushed by a falling tree branch on Defendant’s property and that defendant destroyed the evidence of the tort afterwards by cleaning up her yard.
After extensive discovery and briefing, the court denied Plaintiff’s spoliation claim going through a three prong analysis. First, Plaintiff had not proven that actual evidence of a tort ever existed, or, if it did exist that the specific tree branch that hit Plaintiff could have ever been identified. Second, the court ruled Defendant did not have a duty to preserve the tree debris. The court adopted our argument that Citrus County code required Defendant to clean up her yard. Third, the court found no viable theory of liability against Defendant. Plaintiff did NOT show that cleaning up the accident site deprived him of the ability to prove his case (because he never had a case). It was also noted that there is no indication Defendant acted in bad faith, as she called her insurer to investigate the scene before she hired a professional tree company to remove the branches.
The court found “there is not even a mere scintilla of evidence to suggest [Defendant] failed to maintain the trees…” and that “absent sanctions for spoliation, Plaintiff cannot meet his burden to establish the accident occurred due to [Defendant’s] failure to use reasonable care in maintaining her property.” Further, Defendant had no duty to warn because the dangerous condition was known to Plaintiff and was open and obvious to him. The trial court’s ruling was affirmed by the Fifth District Court of Appeal. Read More.
