Florida car accident lawsuit

Headlines recently centered on a pregnant reality television personality who is being sued in connection with a car accident – despite the fact that she was nowhere near the scene when it happened.

Blac Chyna has been named in a personal injury lawsuit that seeks damages for medical expenses, lost wage and pain and suffering. The makeup artist and fiancee of Rob Kardashian reportedly allowed a friend to drive her BMW last November. That friend was later accused of felony hit-and-run when she allegedly ran a stop sign and struck plaintiff’s sport utility vehicle, causing injury to herself and a passenger.

Now, plaintiff alleges the owner of the vehicle should be liable for negligent entrustment, which is that defendant knew or should have known the person to whom she loaned her vehicle was a poor driver but allowed her to drive the car anyway. Continue reading ›

Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeal recently weighed the issue of whether it was proper to grant default judgment against the owner of a vehicle in a car accident lawsuit when there had not yet been a determination on the liability of the alleged negligent driver.

The court’s answer: No.

Beyond that, the court determined the insurance company seeking subrogation in this action, Kotlyer v. Metro Casualty Insurance Co., had wrongly characterized the damages as “liquidated” when in fact they were “unliquidated.” The reason that matters is that courts can’t issue a default judgment without a hearing on unliquidated damages because a hearing is required to determine the exact amount. No hearing had been granted in this case before the judgment was rendered.

A default judgment is a binding judgment in favor of one party on the basis of some failure to take action by the other party. In most cases, default judgment is issued when one party fails to respond or appear before a court of law. Continue reading ›

Articles Tagged with Florida car accident lawsuit

Vicarious Liability of Vehicle Owner May Be Asserted in Florida Car Accident Lawsuit

Kotlyer v. Metro Casualty Insurance Co. – Florida Car Accident Default Judgment Improper