Jorge Oropeza v. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: August 13, 2025
• Docket: 3D2024-0701
• Status: Published

Opinion

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed August 13, 2025. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

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No. 3D24-0701 Lower Tribunal No. 21-14652-CA-01 ________________

Jorge Oropeza, Appellant,

vs.

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, Appellee.

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Charles Kenneth Johnson, Judge.

Property Litigation Group PLLC, and Samantha Scheff (Miramar), for appellant.

GrayRobinson, P.A., Richard Barry (Orlando), Kristie Hatcher-Bolin (Lakeland), and Shakiva Brown (Fort Lauderdale), for appellee.

Before LINDSEY, MILLER, and BOKOR, JJ.

PER CURIAM. Appellant, Jorge Oropeza, appeals a final judgment rendered after the

trial court granted summary judgment in favor of appellee, Citizens Property

Insurance Corporation. Having carefully conducted a de novo review of the

record, we conclude that the expert affidavit, engineering report, and

supporting photographs and schematics created material factual issues

precluding summary judgment. See Ortega v. JW Marriott Inv., LLC, 405

So. 3d 473, 477–78 (Fla. 3d DCA 2025) (“Credibility determinations, the

weighing of the evidence, and the drawing of legitimate inferences from the

facts are jury functions, not those of a judge, whether he is ruling on a motion

for summary judgment or for a directed verdict.”) (quoting Anderson v. Liberty

Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255 (1986)); see also CG Tides LLC v. SHEDDF3

VNB, LLC, 388 So. 3d 1081, 1084–85 (Fla. 3d DCA 2024) (“Properly

understood, summary judgment is akin to a pre-trial directed verdict.

Summary judgment is not designed to resolve disputed issues of fact. It

merely serves to identify whether an issue of fact exists that must be resolved

by trial.”) (citation omitted); Lassiter v. Citizens Prop. Ins. Co., 386 So. 3d

646, 647–48 (Fla. 2d DCA 2024) (“We conclude that the trial court

impermissibly weighed the evidence in ruling on Citizens’ motion when it

determined that the parties’ affidavits resulted in a ‘tie’ and that there were

2 no genuine disputes as to a material fact precluding summary judgment.”).

Accordingly, we reverse and remand.

Reversed and remanded.