Ashlock v. Beremesh, et al.
The 2nd Appellate District affirmed the Trial Court rulings in granting Defendants Arsen Beremesh and Turo Inc.’s MSJ. This case arises out of a motorcycle v. automobile accident.
In this case, Mr. Beremesh listed his vehicle on Turo’s platform and defendant Denis Kostritsa reserved and picked up the vehicle from Mr. Beremesh. Unbeknownst to Turo and Mr. Beremesh, Mr. Kostritsa’s driver’s license was suspended at the time he picked up the vehicle from Mr. Beremesh. However, at the time of the accident, Mr. Kistritsa wasn’t driving the Beremesh vehicle. Rather, Mr. Kistritsa allowed Vitaly Berezhnoy to drive the vehicle and he ultimately struck Plaintiff on his motorcycle.
Plaintiff alleged that both defendants were negligent for entrusting Mr. Beremesh’s vehicle to Mr. Kostritsa. The Trial Court granted both clients’ MSJs on multiple grounds including: 1) neither defendant authorized Mr. Berezhnoy to operate Mr. Beremesh’s vehicle.; 2) there was no evidence that either defendant knew or should have known that Mr. Berezhnoy was not fit to drive. In addition, Mr. Kostritsa’s suspended license was not cause the of the accident.
On appeal, Plaintiff again argued that if Beremesh had not allowed Mr. Kostritsa to rent the vehicle due to his suspended license, Mr. Kostritsa would not have been able to loan the vehicle to Mr. Berezhnoy. Likewise, Plaintiff argued that Turo was negligent because it failed to screen Mr. Kostritsa to ensure he had a valid license.
The Appeals court ruled affirmed the MSJ ruling in favor of the defense.