PENNSYLVANIA LUMBERMAN'S MUTUAL INSURANCE CO., APPELLANT,
v.
FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT CO., APPELLEE
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Florida appellate court affirmed summary judgment dismissing a spoliation of evidence claim because the defendant had no statutory, contractual, or common law duty to preserve the transformer, and the plaintiff failed to provide effective notice of potential litigation.
A defendant has no duty to preserve evidence absent a statutory or contractual obligation, and no common law duty arises from ineffective notice of potential litigation.
[1] A defendant owes no duty to preserve potential evidence absent a statutory obligation, contractual duty, or effective notice of pending litigation.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePennsylvania Lumberman's Mutual Insurance Company sued Florida Power & Light Company for spoliation of evidence regarding a transformer. FPL allegedly…
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PER CURIAM.
Pennsylvania Lumberman’s Mutual Insurance Company appeals from an Order granting the defendant, Florida Power & Light Company’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment in a case alleging spoilation of evidence.
Unlike the defendant in Bondu v. Gurvich, 473 So. 2d 1307 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984), the defendant in this case was not under any statutory or contractual duty to maintain or preserve the transformer in question. To the extent that the appellant, who was the plaintiff below, argues that the defendant was under some type of common law duty to preserve the transformer in question after being notified of possible legal action against the defendant in connection with the transformer, we note that the record refutes the plaintiffs contention that the defendant’s legal department was notified both by a letter and a “fax” concerning the possible initiation of legal action and, therefore, should have preserved the transformer as potential evidence in that legal action. As far as the notification by letter is concerned, it is undisputed that the letter was mailed to an incorrect address. Furthermore, as far as the “fax” is concerned, the plaintiffs own “fax” activity sheet reflects that, although an attempt was made to “fax” two pages, none were actually transmitted.
Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons, the Summary Judgment entered by the trial court in favor of the defendant, which is under review herein, is affirmed.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Palmas Y Bambu, S.A. v. E.I. Dupont de Nemours & Co., Inc., 881 So. 2d 565 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004)…o preserve evidence which it knows or reasonably should know is relevant to the action”)(quoting Fire Ins. Exchange v. Zenith Radio Corp., 103 Nev. 648, 747 P. 2d 911, 914 (1987)); Pennsylvania Lumberman’s Mut. Ins. Co. v. Florida Power & Light Co., 724 So. 2d 629, 630 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998)(suggesting that in the context of an action for spoliation of evidence, notification of potential litigation triggers the obligation to preserve evidence). .The court noted that while the nurseries would never be able to exa…
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Justo Carlos Perez v. LA Dove, Inc., 964 So. 2d 777 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007)…o basis to award sanctions based on a spoliation allegation where the defendant had not intentionally destroyed the evidence and was not under a court order to preserve the evidence); Pennsylvania Lumberman’s Mut. Ins. Co. v. Fla. Power & Light Co., 724 So. 2d 629, 630 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998)(holding that no spoliation claim existed where the defendant “was not under any statutory or contractual duty to maintain or preserve the transformer in question” and no evidence showed the defendant received actual notice be…
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Silhan v. Allstate Ins., 236 F. Supp. 2d 1303 (N.D. Fla. 2002)…lorida rejected the idea that there is a common law duty to preserve evidence absent formal notice (to the alleged spoliator) of an intent to file a lawsuit. See Pennsylvania Lumberman’s Mutual Insurance Co. v. Florida Power and Light Company, 724 So.2d 629, 630 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1998). Considering that Brinson is vague and that Pennsylvania Lumberman’s is clear, this Court will follow the latter case. Thus, no common law duty to preserve evidehce (absent some form of notice) currently exists i…1 / 3
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Mayme Bondu v. Ruben Gurvich, M.D., 473 So. 2d 1307 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)