Conda v. Plain
| Citation | 222 So.2d 417 |
| Decision Date | 14 May 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 38107,38107 |
| Parties | George V. CONDA, II, a minor, by his father and next friend, George V. Conda, and George V. Conda, Individually, Petitioners, v. Judith W. PLAIN, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Ted L. Wells, Tampa, for petitioners.
William T. Keen, of Shackleford, Farrior, Stallings & Evans, Tampa, for respondent.
This cause is before us on petition for writ of certiorari to review the decision of the District Court of Appeal, Second District, reported at 215 So.2d 13. Our jurisdiction is based on conflict between the decision sought to be reviewed and Gulle v. Boggs. 1
Petitioner, plaintiff below, George Conda II, a minor, suffered personal injuries, including a fractured skull when his motorbike was struck by an overtaking vehicle owned and operated by respondent, defendant below. The jury returned a verdict of $903.25 in favor of plaintiffs, but the trial court granted defendant's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. On appeal, the District Court affirmed, holding that the plaintiffs had not sustained the burden of proving any specific acts of negligence on the part of the defendant which caused the accident, and that unrefuted evidence in the record established that the minor plaintiff was contributorily negligent as a matter of law.
In Gulle v. Boggs, supra, this Court held that the presumption of negligence arising from a rear-end collision, even though vanishing when rebutted, leaves permissible inferences which are for the jury.
The minor plaintiff, Conda, due to his skull fracture was unable to recall the accident. The defendant's testimony, largely supported by that of her mother-in-law and the other passenger in defendant's car, was that she was traveling at 30 miles per hour going south in the southbound lane with the motorbike 2 blocks ahead of her; that she closed to within 2 car lengths of the motorbike which was on the right hand side of the southbound lane; that at this point, the minor plaintiff looked back at her, then to his front, and then the motorbike made a sharp turn to the left in front of her car; that she applied her brakes but was unable to avoid the collision. The mother-in-law testified that defendant closed to within 10 to 12 feet of the motorbike.
Physical evidence of the collision, as testified to by Sgt. Miller of the Tampa Police Department, revealed that defendant's vehicle came to rest in the center of the southbound lane of the highway and that 30 feet of...
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Allen v. Florida Power Corp., 40457
...any evidence from which a jury of reasonable men could find liability, may a judgment based on a directed verdict stand. See Conda v. Plain, Fla., 222 So.2d 417, and Williams v. Hutson, Fla.App., 186 So.2d 558. The decision of the District Court is quashed with direction that the case be re......
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Alford v. Cool Cargo Carriers, Inc.
...arbitrary stop in a place where it could not reasonably be expected or an unexpected change of lanes, see Clampitt; Eppler; Conda v. Plain, 222 So.2d 417 (Fla.1969); Wright; Antokal v. Llana, 763 So.2d 1067 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999), review denied, 767 So.2d 458 (Fla. 2000); McCloud v. Swanson, 6......
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Eppler v. Tarmac America, Inc.
...195 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996), review denied, 698 So.2d 1225 (Fla.1997). This is particularly true in negligence actions. See Conda v. Plain, 222 So.2d 417, 418 (Fla.1969). Negligence is the failure to use reasonable care under the circumstances. See Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Civ.) 4.1. Thus, to def......
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Department of Highway Safety v. Saleme
...(2) affirmative testimony of a sudden and unexpected stop or unexpected lane change by the car in front, see, e.g., Conda v. Plain, 222 So.2d 417, 417-18 (Fla.1969) (holding that testimony by the defendant that the plaintiff suddenly switched into the defendant's lane while the defendant wa......