MIRIAN NAJEERA AND ELICEO GARCIA
v.
TROPICAL SUPERMARKET CORP.

Fla. 3d DCA | 2020-04-29
No. 18-2255
45 Fla. L. Weekly D440 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2020) Positive Treatment
Also reported at: 305 So. 3d 639
Cited by 5 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The appellate court reversed a summary judgment for the supermarket, finding that material issues of fact remained regarding a customer's slip and fall. The court held that the customer's affidavits, even if inconsistent with prior testimony, could create disputed issues if credible.


Holding

The appellate court held that material issues of fact remain in dispute. The court found that the plaintiffs' affidavits, which may have contained additional or slightly inconsistent information compared to prior testimony, were part of the record and could create disputed issues if credible.


Headnotes

[1] Material issues of fact in dispute preclude the entry of summary judgment.

[2] Affidavits filed in opposition to a motion for summary judgment are part of the record evidence to be considered by the trial court, even if a motion to strike them was n…

Previewing 2 of 3 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“we hold that material issues of fact remain in dispute, and reverse and remand for further proceedings.”

This quote states the court's main conclusion and the action taken.

Previewing 1 of 2 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Mirian Najeera and Eliceo Garcia, plaintiffs, sued Tropical Supermarket Corporation after Najeera slipped and fell. The trial court entered a final su…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court

EMAS, C.J.

Mirian Najeera and her husband, Eliceo Garcia, plaintiffs below, appeal final summary judgment entered by the trial court in favor of defendant Tropical Supermarket Corporation (“Tropical”). Following our de novo review, see Markowitz v. Helen Homes of Kendall Corp., 826 So. 2d 256, 259 (Fla. 2002), we hold that material issues of fact remain in dispute, and reverse and remand for further proceedings.1 See Williams v. Ryta Food Corp., 45 Fla.

L. Weekly D440 (Fla. 3d DCA Feb. 26, 2020) (and cases cited therein); Newalk v. Fla. Supermarkets, Inc., 610 So. 2d 528 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992) (holding evidence that oil spots on floor appeared old was sufficient to allow the jury to conclude whether the substance had been on the floor long enough that the owner should have known about it); Teate v. Winn Dixie Stores, Inc., 524 So. 2d 1060 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988); Hodges v. Walsh,

Additionally, while it is true that plaintiffs’ affidavits contained additional averments on the issues in dispute, we disagree with Tropical that the plaintiffs, by these affidavits, so altered their position as to repudiate their earlier sworn testimony. See Williams v. Ryta Food Corp., 45 Fla.

L. Weekly D440 (Fla. 3d DCA Feb. 26, 2020) (reaffirming that while a party, after having given prior sworn testimony in the case, may not subsequently change that testimony to create a disputed issue on the opponent’s motion for summary judgment, “a party may give a subsequent affidavit for the purpose of explaining testimony given in a prior affidavit or deposition, so long as the explanation is credible, even though it creates an issue on the opponent’s motion for summary judgment.”) (quoting Willage v. Law Offices of Wallace and Breslow, P.A., 415 So. 2d 767, 769 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982)).

553 So. 2d 221 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989). Reversed and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Footnotes
1 We reject Tropical’s suggestion that this court should disregard plaintiffs’ affidavits filed below because they were inconsistent with and contradicted sworn testimony previously provided by plaintiffs. Tropical moved to strike the affidavits, but the trial court did not consider that motion, and the affidavits were not stricken; they were therefore a part of the record evidence to be considered by the trial court.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw