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993 So. 2d 561

Docket No. 1D07-3845.

Boza v. Carter

Dane R. BOZA, II, Appellant, v. Rachel A. CARTER, Appellee.

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided October 17, 2008.

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 2008-10-17

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently January 2009

1 state decisions

Relies on 806 So. 2d 424 - D'AMARIO v. Ford Motor Co. · 878 So. 2d 392 - Aguila v. Hilton, Inc. · 851 So. 2d 866 - REPUBLIC SERVICES OF FLORIDA v. Poucher

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 2008-10-17

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¶1Sean C. Domnick of Searcy, Denny, Scarola, Barnhart & Shipley, P.A., West Palm Beach, and Bard D. Rockenbach of Burlington *562 & Rockenbach, P.A., West Palm Beach, for Appellant.

¶2Tracy Raffles Gunn of Gunn Appellate Practice, P.A., Tampa, for Appellee.

¶3KAHN, J.

¶4We have considered each of the issues raised in this appeal of a jury verdict awarding damages to appellant. We cannot conclude that the nonparty to whom the jury apportioned a share of fault was an intentional tortfeasor. The ineluctable rule in Florida defines "an intentional tort as one in which the actor exhibits a deliberate intent to injure or engages in conduct which is substantially certain to result in injury or death." D'Amario v. Ford Motor Co.,806 So.2d 424, 438 (Fla. 2001). We decline to conclude, as a matter of law, that injury was substantially certain to follow the nonparty's conduct in this case. See, e.g., id. (rejecting argument that drunk driving is intentional tort).

¶5Likewise, we find no authority to support appellant's argument that appellee incurred a duty, as driver of a motor vehicle, to control the conduct of her passenger under the circumstances here. See generally Aguila v. Hilton, Inc.,878 So.2d 392 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004). "As a general principle, a party has no legal duty to control the conduct of a third person to prevent that person from causing harm to another." Id. at 398.

¶6Finally, appellant made a strong factual showing that reasonable people might differ with the jury's calculation of non-economic damages. He has not, however, shown that no reasonable judge would have denied his motion for additur. We cannot, therefore, conclude that the denial of appellant's motion amounted to an abuse of the trial judge's discretion. See Republic Servs. of Fla., L.P. v. Poucher,851 So.2d 866 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003).

¶7AFFIRMED.

¶8LEWIS and ROBERTS, JJ., concur.

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