Case Name: NATIONWIDE MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. Shirley M. SHEEHY, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2000-12-13
Citations: 772 So. 2d 624
Docket Number: No. 4D00-402
Parties: NATIONWIDE MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. Shirley M. SHEEHY, Appellee.
Judges: FARMER and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 772
Pages: 624–625

Head Matter:
NATIONWIDE MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. Shirley M. SHEEHY, Appellee.
No. 4D00-402.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
Dec. 13, 2000.
Daniel Le Vay and Eric Hoecker of the Law Offices of Figueroa, Gonzalez & Hoecker, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Richard A. Bolton of Bolton & Gross, North Miami Beach, for appellee.

Opinion:
KLEIN, J.
Plaintiff was involved in two accidents, the first occurring when she was stopped at a railroad crossing and was rear-ended by Shirley Sheehy. Both drivers got out of their cars and failed to move them from the road. Ten to -twelve minutes later, a car driven by Robin Lewitt struck Sheehy's vehicle, propelling it into plaintiff.
Plaintiff sued Sheehy, Lewitt and her UM carrier, Nationwide, for personal injuries caused by the second impact. The trial court granted Sheehy's motion for summary judgment, concluding that Sheehy was not liable for the second accident because Lewitt's collision with Sheehy's vehicle was, as a matter of law, an independent intervening cause of plaintiffs injuries.
A similar situation was presented in Gibson v. Avis Rent-A-Car System, Inc., 386 So.2d 520 (Fla.1980), and our supreme court concluded that it is for the jury to determine whether it is foreseeable, where vehicles are stopped on a highway, that an accident will result when other vehicles arrive at the scene of the stopped vehicles. Whether the second accident was an independent intervening cause is, accordingly, an issue of fact in this case. We therefore reverse the summary judgment.
FARMER and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.