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Gliottone v. Ethier3/14/2005
This matter came before this Court for oral argument on January 18, 2005, pursuant to an order directing the parties to appear and show cause why the issues raised by this appeal should not summarily be decided. After hearing the arguments of counsel and examining the memoranda filed by the parties, we are of the opinion that cause has not been shown and that the case should be decided at this time.
Facts and Procedural History
The facts of this negligence case are brief and not subject to serious dispute. On October 6, 1999, plaintiff, Silvestro Gliottone, and defendant, Jeff Ethier, were involved in a motor vehicle accident in the City of Cranston. Just after 9 a.m. that day, plaintiff, while traveling in the northbound lane of Dyer Avenue, attempted to make a left-hand turn into a service station located on the opposite side of the road. While crossing the southbound lane to reach the station entrance, Mr. Gliottone's vehicle collided with defendant's vehicle. He sustained personal injury and both vehicles were significantly damaged.
The plaintiff filed a negligence action against defendant, seeking compensation for his medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and property damages. When he was deposed, however, plaintiff testified that he had no recollection of the accident other than seeing a "white blur" just before striking his head on his windshield as a result of the force of the collision. In addition, plaintiff admitted that he never observed defendant's vehicle prior to the impact, did not know whether his foot was on the brake or accelerator at the time of the crash, and could not independently recall if he was wearing his seat belt. The plaintiff similarly was unable to testify about the speed at which defendant's vehicle had been traveling at the time of the collision. Additional discovery also revealed that plaintiff has no sight in his left eye.
The only eyewitness to the accident, Ms. Connie J. Martone, testified that she was traveling in the southbound lane of Dyer Avenue behind defendant's vehicle when the accident occurred. In her deposition, Ms. Martone explained that she observed plaintiff's vehicle cross the center of the roadway into oncoming traffic and strike defendant's vehicle head-on. She testified that plaintiff's vehicle did not display a directional signal at that time. The witness also estimated that Ethier's vehicle was traveling between twenty-five and twenty-eight miles per hour at the time of collision, and that defendant had no chance to apply the brakes to avoid being struck by plaintiff's vehicle. Martone emphasized throughout her testimony that plaintiff crossed into oncoming traffic so suddenly that defendant could not have avoided the accident.
At a pretrial conference conducted the morning the trial was scheduled to commence, the Superior Court justice presiding in the case encouraged defendant's counsel to file a motion for summary judgment on the ground that there were no material issues of fact to be submitted to the jury. Later that afternoon, defendant argued his motion, urging that plaintiff had failed during discovery to raise evidence sufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact about whether defendant's negligence had caused the collision. Without challenging the timeliness of the court's consideration of the motion, plaintiff argued that the damages to the vehicles, as depicted by several photographs taken at the scene of the accident, created an issue of fact as to defendant's comparative negligence. The plaintiff asserted that the photographs could support a reasonable inference that defendant was traveling at an excessive speed at the time of the collision. After hearing the
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