Chris A. Milne, as Special Conservator of Jaime Antonio Flores Landaverde, protected person v. Move Freight Trucking, LLC, et al.; Catherine Slater Crawford, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Beberlyn Vanessa Alvarez-Lopez v. Move Freight Trucking, LLC, et al.

Summary

The court considers defendants Move Freight Trucking, LLC and Joshua Flores’s motions for summary judgment in two consolidated cases arising from a September 25, 2021 interstate automobile collision in Virginia. The court denies summary judgment on proximate cause because a jury could find that Flores’s allegedly illegal parking contributed to the accident, but grants summary judgment on claims for gross negligence, willful and wanton negligence, and punitive damages because Flores exercised some degree of care.

Holdings

1. Summary judgment was improper on proximate cause because the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, permitted a reasonable jury to find that Flores's allegedly negligent parking proximately contributed to the collision. Lopez's negligence did not constitute a superseding cause as a matter of law.
2. Summary judgment was proper on the gross-negligence, willful-and-wanton-negligence, and punitive-damages claims because the undisputed evidence established that Flores exercised some degree of care.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the evidence permitted a reasonable jury to find that Flores's alleged negligence was a proximate cause of the collision despite Lopez's intervening negligence.
2. Whether plaintiffs' gross-negligence and willful-and-wanton-negligence claims could survive summary judgment where the undisputed facts showed that Flores exercised some degree of care.
3. Whether plaintiffs' punitive-damages claims could survive summary judgment on the same evidentiary record.

Disposition

other