Jeffrey Gresham and Emari Young, as Co-Personal Representatives of the Estate of Devaughn Jarvis Gresham, et al. v. FEC Highway Services, LLC, Leonid Mikhailovich Voyevodskiy, and Jessica Mercer
In a short per curiam opinion, the Fifth District affirmed the order denying leave to plead punitive damages. It found that the trial court applied the correct legal approach under the Florida Supreme Court's recent Perlmutter v. Federal Insurance Co. decision. Chief Judge Jay dissented, concluding that the proffer, viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, gave a reasonable basis for finding gross negligence.
Key facts
- A semi-truck driver on wet I-95 near Jacksonville, approaching a signed construction zone with stopped traffic, veered into the median wall, ricocheted across the lanes, and crushed a Kia, killing both occupants.
- The estates proffered expert testimony that the driver was going 20 mph too fast for conditions, on cruise control, past numerous construction warning signs and message boards.
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Holdings
- On de novo review, a trial court's denial of leave to add punitive damages under § 768.72 will be affirmed when the court applied the Perlmutter evidentiary-sufficiency framework, which…
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Why it matters
This is one of the first appellate applications of Perlmutter v. Federal Insurance Co. (Fla. 2026), the Supreme Court's new standard for the § 768.72 punitive-damages proffer. Although the majority opinion is short, the… — full analysis with a trial
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