Fabre Defendants and Motions for Summary Judgment

Pursuant to Fabre v. Marin, 623 So. 2d 1182 (Fla. 1993), a defendant is entitled to name a non-party as a defendant and seek apportionment of fault on the verdict form if there is sufficient evidence of that non-party’s negligence.  While a defendant may name a Fabre defendant, in order for that defendant to appear on a verdict form, there must be legally sufficient evidence within the record to support the claim. Just asserting it as an affirmative defense is not enough as pleadings are not evidence. See Turtle Lake Assocs., Ltd. v. Third Fin. Servs., Inc., 518 So. 2d 959, 961 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988). 

The new summary judgment standard “mirrors the standard for a directed verdict such that the inquiry focuses on ‘whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” See Chowdhury v. BankUnited, N.A., 366 So. 3d 1130, 1134 (Fla. 3d DCA 2023). (Quoting, In re Amends. to Fla. Rule of Civ. Proc. 1.510, 309 So. 3d 192, 192 (Fla. 2020). If a defendant wants to argue that a non-party was liable under Fabre, it will need to provide an evidentiary basis. Otherwise, it will likely fail by way of plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment or directed verdict motion.