Articles Posted in Car, Truck & Motorcycle Accidents

Our law firm (along with co-counsel firm Domnick & Shevin, LLP) is currently involved in litigation against the Enterprise car rental company.

In 2008, Enterprise rented a vehicle, in Miami, to a person whose Florida driver’s license was under suspension for failing to appear in court on a number of motor vehicle moving violations. After his credit card was rejected, forcing him to leave the rental agency to obtain cash, he returned with the cash and presented a facially valid (although unlawfully obtained) Texas driver’s license to the rental agent. Enterprise rented him the vehicle.

A few days later, the renter caused a high-speed rollover accident in the Enterprise vehicle on I-75 near Gainesville, Florida. Our client, a passenger in the vehicle, was airlifted to Shands Hospital with life-threatening injuries. She remains severely disabled, in great pain, and unable to work.

A quick and inexpensive (less than $1.00) Internet database search, based on name and birth date, performed by the Enterprise agent, would have disclosed the customer’s license suspension and traffic record. However, since the agent was not instructed or authorized by Enterprise to perform such a search, one was not done.

We sued Enterprise on the theory that it negligently entrusted its vehicle to the at-fault driver. Enterprise claims that it did nothing wrong.

What is Enterprise’s primary defense? Florida Statute 322.38(2).

322.38(2) provides as follows – No person shall rent a motor vehicle to another until he or she has inspected the driver’s license of the person to whom the vehicle is to be rented, and compared and verified the signature thereon with the signature of such person written in his or her presence.

Enterprise argues that 322.38(2) is a safe harbor provision providing it with absolute immunity from fault, that despite the ease and nominal cost of determining the prospective customer’s license status and driving record, its only responsibility to the public was to inspect the Texas driver’s license and compare and verify the signature thereon.

The Plaintiff’s (our client) position is that 322.38(2) is not a safe harbor provision extending absolute immunity to Enterprise or any other rental agency. Rather, it is a minimum standard established by the Florida Legislature to create some level of safety for those who travel on the streets and highways of the state, but it is not the only standard that can be considered by judges and juries to determine reasonable conduct under every circumstance.

It is simply not the Legislature’s role to instruct companies how to conduct every aspect of their business. Those business decisions are left to the judgment of the companies, with the understanding, however, that poor decisions or worse can result in serious legal consequences.

Such is the scenario in our case. Enterprise did nothing more than the bare minimum. A judge and jury will now decide if this conduct was reasonable under the circumstances. We do not believe that it was, thus our claim for negligent entrustment. Clearly, Enterprise could have done more.
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Fault (or negligence) is always an issue in Florida motor vehicle accident personal injury cases. For an individual to be successful in claiming damages against another party, the claimant has the burden of proving that the other party caused the accident.

In some cases, proving fault is an easy matter. In others, the issue will be hotly contested. In those cases, the plaintiff – the party seeking damages – needs evidence to prove her or his case. One place to look (for evidence) is in the traffic court records.

In most Florida motor vehicle accidents, an investigating law enforcement officer will issue a traffic infraction/ticket to one or more of the involved parties. The ticket can be an expression of the investigating officer’s opinion with regard to fault. For example, a driver may be ticketed for following too closely or for failing to yield the right of way.

Although the traffic infraction itself is not admissable as evidence of guilt in a civil case arising out of the accident, the defendant’s response to the traffic charge may be.

With a few exceptions, Florida Statute Section 318.14(4)(a) allows any person charged with a noncriminal traffic infraction to pay the civil penalty by mail or in person without the effective admission of guilt being used as evidence in any other proceedings. “[O]ther proceedings” includes a civil action arising out of a traffic accident.

For purposes of motor vehicle accidents, the most important exceptions to 318.14(4)(a) are contained in Florida Statute 318.19, which contains a list of traffic infractions requiring a mandatory hearing. Those infractions are:

1. Any infraction which results in a crash that causes the death of another;
2. Any infraction which results in a crash that causes “serious bodily injury” of another as defined in s. 316.1933(1);
3. Any infraction of s. 316.172(1)(b);
4. Any infraction of s. 316.520(1) or (2); or
5. Any infraction of s. 316.183(2), s. 316.187, or s. 316.189 of exceeding the speed limit by 30 m.p.h. or more.

Unlike the allowance contained in 318.14, a guilty plea in one of the 318.19 exceptions can be used as evidence in any other proceedings, including a civil case for damages. (The record of the plea is admitted, not as establishing the fact [of fault], but as a deliberate declaration or admission of the party himself that the fact is true. Boshnack v. World Wide Rent-A-Car, Inc., 195 So.2d 216, 218 (Fla., 1967).)
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