David Delaney and Elizabeth McKillop successfully argued a motion for summary judgment on behalf of their client, the owner of a horse ranch. At the hearing, the Court dismissed the Plaintiff’s claims that he was injured while attempting to load a horse into a trailer after purchasing it from the Defendant. The Plaintiff charged that the rancher’s employees failed to provide any assistance in loading the horse. The Plaintiff also alleged that the Defendant failed to warn Plaintiff of the horse’s temperamental disposition and dangerous propensities.
Mr. Delaney and Ms. McKillop defended the case with Florida’s Equine Activities statute. This law protects ranch owners, horse farms, and other sponsors of equine activities against personal injury claims when certain notice provisions are followed.In several consolidated cases arising out of alleged physical and sexual abuse at a church school and camp, Carl Schwait and Elizabeth Collins obtained favorable rulings upon summary judgment on the basis that the claims were time-barred by the applicable statute of limitations. The plaintiffs claimed that that accrual of their negligence claims and the running of the statute of limitations was delayed because “dissociative amnesia” (also referred to as “repressed memories” or “traumatic amnesia”) prevented them from remembering the alleged abuse against them and from discovering their claimed injury until many years later. Following an evidentiary hearing pursuant to Frye v. U.S., 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923), the circuit court held that plaintiffs failed to show by a preponderance of evidence that the existence of “repressed memories” is generally accepted in the relevant scientific community. A subsequent appeal by the plaintiffs was abandoned.
[ learn more about Carl B. Schwait, learn more about Elizabeth M. Collins ]
