Hoeflick v. Bradley

Nancy Hoeflick, her sons, and her boyfriend, Timmy Collins, were traveling to Florida in Hoeflick’s car when the car struck a cow in the highway. Collins suffered an injury to his knee, and Hoeflick’s car was damaged. Collins was the named insured in an insurance policy covering Hoeflick’s car. Claiming Robert Bradley was negligent in allowing his cow to wander onto the highway, Hoeflick sued Bradley.1 She sought damages of $4,131 for damage to her vehicle, $816 for a rental vehicle, and $4,500 for a “ruined vacation.” Bradley moved for summary judgment, arguing Hoeflick suffered no financial damage in connection with the repairs to her car because Collins’ insurer paid for the repairs, and Hoeflick did not incur any loss for the vacation inasmuch as Collins paid for the trip and the group still went on the vacation as planned. Hoeflick countered, among other things, that the collateral source rule precluded consideration of the fact that an insurance company paid all but $500 of the repair costs. Bradley responded, in part, that the insurance policy was relevant because Collins executed a subrogation agreement and assigned his cause of action to his insurer. Therefore, Bradley urged, Collins and Hoeflick were not entitled to pursue their own action. Without stating its reasons for doing so, the trial court granted Bradley’s motion for summary judgment. Hoeflick appeals.

1. Hoeflick contends the trial court erred by granting summary judgment to Bradley on her property damage claim based on evidence that repair costs were covered by insurance.2 We agree that Bradley was not entitled to summary judgment on this claim.