Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed January 26, 2022.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
________________
No. 3D21-1506
Lower Tribunal No. 20-20736
________________
Karina Barg,
Appellant,
vs.
Casablanca on the Bay, Inc.,
Appellee.
An Appeal from a non-final order from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade
County, Migna Sanchez-Llorens, Judge.
The Legal Team, PLLC, and Karel Suarez, Sanchez, Fischer Levine,
LLP, and David M. Levine, and Fausto Sanchez and Paola Sanchez Torres,
for appellant.
Dorta & Ortega, P.A., and Rey Dorta, and Ashley Suarez, for appellee.
Before LINDSEY, HENDON, and MILLER, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Karina L. Barg (plaintiff below) appeals the trial court’s order setting
aside a final default judgment entered against Casablanca on the Bay, Inc.
(defendant below). At the evidentiary hearing, the Casablanca employee
served with process testified that he did not ever recall being served with
process because he had just returned to work following a three-month long
hospitalization and had been prescribed heavy medication, including
oxycodone. The trial court’s conclusion that this established excusable
neglect was not an abuse of discretion, simply a credibility
determination. See Cruz v. Caribbean Spring Vill.,
944 So. 2d 1161, 1162
(Fla. 3d DCA 2006); cf. Benefit Admin. Sys., LLC v. W. Kendall Baptist
Hosp., Inc.,
274 So. 3d 480, 483 (Fla. 3d DCA 2019) (“The trial court weighed
the evidence, made credibility determinations, and concluded that [movant]
failed to show it was never served with the summons and complaint. . . . The
trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that [movant] failed to
establish excusable neglect.”). Because the trial court did not abuse its
discretion, we affirm.
Affirmed.
2
