13th Court of Appeals Affirms Summary Judgment

In a commercial case involving the death of a passenger, Shareholder Jeffrey G. House and Associate Michael D. DeNuccio successfully defended their client at the Trial Court and Appellate Court, winning two (2) Summary Judgments in favor of their client on negligent entrustment, negligent hiring, and negligent retention, with both Courts ruling that the evidence conclusively established that their client was not liable for the Plaintiffs’ injuries.

A day after being fired from our client’s dealership, the driver stole a vehicle from the dealership, became intoxicated, and crashed into another vehicle killing its passenger. Plaintiffs argued that the dealership was negligent for allowing the driver to take the vehicle and for not supervising him better when he was employed and after he was terminated but had not yet left the premises.

House and DeNuccio challenged Plaintiffs’ claims on both procedural and substantive grounds and the Trial Court granted both Summary Judgments. Plaintiffs appealed the judgments and the 13th Court of Appeals affirmed the Trial Court’s judgments, holding that the summary judgment evidence conclusively negated essential elements of Plaintiffs’ causes of action.