Summary Judgment: Duval County, Florida (Wrongful Death)

Jacksonville partner Rick Ramsey recently obtained summary judgment in a wrongful death case on behalf of a national hotel chain.

This case arose from an incident wherein four adults, ranging in age from their 40’s to their 60’s, checked into a Jacksonville hotel. They allegedly found what they thought was cocaine on the floor of the hotel bar, and returned to their room to intentionally ingest it. It turned out that the substance was not cocaine, but fentanyl. One of the four began to feel ill, and left the room to get some fresh air. He was discovered unresponsive near the pool by the hotel staff, who called the paramedics. He received a dose of Narcan, and was transported to the hospital to recover. His wife and the other couple were later discovered dead in their hotel room, having ingested fatal doses of fentanyl.

The estates of all three of the deceased sued the hotel, arguing that had the hotel timely performed a wellness check at the room of the intoxicated guest, they would have found the other three individuals suffering the effects of overdose and could have administered Narcan to them as well, thus preventing their deaths.

Our summary judgment argument was made in two parts. First, that Fla. Statute 768.075(4) provides immunity from suit to property owners when the injury or death was occasioned in the commission of a felony, and voluntarily being in possession of cocaine or fentanyl is a third degree felony; and second, that Plaintiff’s argument relied on the improper stacking of inferences, the first of which was the inference that the other three adults would have been alive when the fourth was discovered by the pool. There was no evidence of that causal link.

The Court agreed and granted summary judgment, dismissing the case against our client. Due to the rejection of a Proposal for Settlement, we are now pursuing all available remedies to recover our clients’ fees and costs, including a 57.105 motion.

Congratulations, Rick. The client is very pleased with the outcome of this difficult case.