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349 So. 2d 734

Docket Nos. 76-1597, 76-1803, 76-1804 and 76-1840.

Dade County v. Carucci

DADE COUNTY, a Political Subdivision of the State of Florida, Appellant, v. Georgiana CARUCCI, Appellee.

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided August 23, 1977.

Rehearing Denied September 21, 1977.

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1977-08-23

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“Ordinarily, the evidence of a defendant's past driving record should not be made a part of the jury's considerations.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 352 So. 2d 1216 - Clooney v. Geeting

Relies on 254 So. 2d 34 - Short v. Allen · Powell v. Horne Powell v. Mizell · 226 So. 2d 145 - Pepin v. Retail Discount Ass'n

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1977-08-23

How this case has been cited

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently June 2011

4 state decisions

2019771980199020002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1Wicker, Smith, Blomqvist, Davant, McMath, Tutan & O'Hara and Richard A. Sherman, Miami, for appellant.

¶2*735 McCormick, Bedford & Backmeyer, Miami, for appellee.

¶3Before PEARSON, BARKDULL and HUBBART, JJ.

¶4PER CURIAM.

¶5The only point presented on these consolidated appeals is whether the trial court abused its discretion in granting the plaintiff Georgiana Carucci's motion for a new trial upon the following ground:

"... that the Court committed harmful error prejudicial to the Plaintiff by permitting Defendant to present testimony over Plaintiff's objections to the prior driving record of Defendant, DADE COUNTY's employee bus driver, J.P. Williams, who was driving the Defendant's bus in which Plaintiff was a passenger at the time of the accident."

¶6We hold that there has been no showing of abuse of the trial court's discretion. See Montenegro v. Rainwater,314 So.2d 191 (Fla.3d DCA 1975); and cf. Pepin v. Retail Discount Association,226 So.2d 145 (Fla.1st DCA 145).

¶7Ordinarily, the evidence of a defendant's past driving record should not be made a part of the jury's considerations. There is support for this proposition and for the actions of the trial judge below in the case law of this and other jurisdictions. Cf. Powell v. Horne,149 Fla. 240, 5 So.2d 451 (1942); and Short v. Allen,254 So.2d 34 (Fla.3d DCA 1971). See also 8 Am.Jur.2d Automobiles and Highway Traffic § 940 (1963). Finally, it would appear from the record that the past driving record of the bus driver received undue attention in this case.

¶8Affirmed.

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