ELSA SIERRA, APPELLANT,
v.
JEROME SHEVIN, ESQ., AND JEROME H. SHEVIN, P.A., APPELLEES

Fla. 3d DCA | 2000-07-05
No. 3D99-3221
Before GERSTEN, FLETCHER, and RAMIREZ, JJ.
767 So. 2d 524 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2000) Positive Treatment
Also reported at: 2019 WL 5188546
Cited by 134 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Sierra appeals summary judgment in her legal malpractice action against her former attorney Shevin, who represented her in a disability insurance rescission case. The appellate court reversed, finding the trial court improperly weighed credibility and that material factual disputes precluded summary judgment.


Holding

The court reversed summary judgment because material issues of fact existed and the trial court improperly weighed credibility by granting summary judgment. The credibility determinations regarding the expert witnesses' testimony were inappropriate at the summary judgment stage.


Headnotes

[1] Summary judgment must be reversed if the slightest doubt exists regarding material facts.

[2] A court may not weigh the credibility of witnesses or evidence when ruling on a motion for summary judgment.

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Key Quotes

“Because there are numerous issues of material fact and the trial court improperly weighed credibility, we reverse.”

Establishes the primary basis for reversal—material factual disputes and improper credibility determinations at summary judgment stage.

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Facts & Procedural History

Sierra hired Shevin to defend her against Equitable's lawsuit seeking rescission of her disability insurance policy due to alleged non-disclosure of p…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant Elsa Sierra appeals an adverse summary judgment in her legal malpractice action against Jerome Shevin, Esq. and Jerome H. Shevin, P.A. Because there are numerous issues of material fact and the trial court improperly weighed credibility, we reverse.

Sierra hired Shevin to represent her in her litigation against Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Sierra applied for and was accepted for a disabili ty income insurance policy in April 1989. In completing the policy application, Sierra failed to record her having consulted two physicians for treatment for bronchitis and/or flu-like symptoms in November 1988. In addition, she failed to record the diagnosis of one of these doctors that she was suffering from reactionary depression.

During the summer of 1991, Sierra filed a claim under her disability income insurance policy. Shortly thereafter, Equitable instituted a lawsuit in federal court in order to rescind the insurance policy due to the existence of a pre-existing condition of depression, and Sierra hired Shevin to represent her. The district court judge denied Equitable’s motion for summary judgment and the case proceeded to trial by jury-

At that trial, Jeffrey Moskowitz, Equitable’s former chief underwriter for disability and major-medical product lines, testified that Equitable’s standards prevented Equitable from extending a policy to an individual with depressive problems. He stated that, if the previous doctor visits from November 1988 had been revealed, Sierra’s application would have been rejected. No expert witness was brought in to rebut Moskowitz’s testimony. The jury returned a verdict in Equitable’s favor. Sierra appealed, but the appeal was dismissed as untimely filed.

Sierra then instituted the present litigation against Shevin based on allegations of professional negligence. When Shevin filed a motion for summary judgment, Sierra countered with two affidavits, one from a legal malpractice expert and the other from an insurance underwriting expert. Sierra’s legal malpractice expert, Dean Karikas, Esq., testified in his affidavit, among other things, that Shevin had proceeded on the wrong legal theory in disputing Sierra’s responses to Equitable’s application. Karikas concluded that the ultimate ruling in the underlying case would have been more favorable to Sierra had Shevin followed the correct standard. Sierra’s insurance underwriting expert, Stu Warshauer, testified that Sierra’s mental and physical condition, as well as the diagnosis from the November 1988 doctor visit, would not have been a material risk to Equitable if disclosed.

Shevin, on the other hand, did not file any accompanying affidavits along with his motion for summary judgment. The trial court, however, granted Shevin’s motion and criticized Sierra’s expert and the misrepresentations she made in the policy application. In essence, the trial court made a credibility judgment.

The standard of review of a summary judgment order is de novo and requires viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. See Walsingham v. Dockery, 671 So. 2d 166 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996). If the “slightest doubt” exists, then summary judgment must be reversed. See Hancock v. Department of Corrections, 585 So. 2d 1068 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991). In ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the court may neither adjudge the credibility of the witnesses nor weigh the evidence. See Hernandez v. United Auto. Ins. Co., Inc., 730 So. 2d 344, 345-46 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999), and cases cited.

For the above stated reasons, the trial court erred in granting final summary judgment in Shevin’s favor. Reversed and remanded.


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Citator

Cited By (78 total)

  • Krol v. City OF Orlando, 778 So. 2d 490 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)
    …orm drains other than to protect pedestrians from stepping into them. Standard Of Review The proper standard of review of a summary judgment is de novo. Volusia County v. Aberdeen at Ormond Beach, L.P., 760 So. 2d 126 (Fla.2000); Sierra v. Shevin, 767 So. 2d 524 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000). In order to determine the propriety of a summary judgment, this court must resolve whether there is any “genuine issue as to any mate [*492] rial fact” and whether “the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.”…
  • …record, so that no reasonable jury could believe it, a court should not adopt that version of the facts for purposes of ruling on a motion for summary judgment.” Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 380 (2007). In Wilsonart, LLC v. Lopez, No. SC19-1336, 2019 WL 5188546 , at *1 (Fla. Oct. 15, 2019), we invited the parties to brief the question whether Florida should adopt the federal summary judgment standard. In addition to the Wilsonart parties’ submissions, we heard from numerous amici, who as a group articulate…
  • Harriette Wilson-Greene v. The City OF Miami, 208 So. 3d 1271 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017)
    …ta and the City, and Wilson-Greene appeals from the judgments. [*1274] Analysis “The standard of review of a summary judgment order is de novo and requires viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party.” Sierra v. Shevin, 767 So. 2d 524, 525 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000). A negligence claim has four elements: (1) a duty by defendant to conform to a certain standard of conduct; (2) a breach by defendant of that duty; (3) a causal connection between the breach and injury to plaintiff; and (4) l…

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