Samaluk v. DeMartis

This is an expedited appeal from the allowance of defendant’s motion for summary judgment in a motor vehicle tort case. Defendant’s motion is grounded in his assertion that plaintiff could not prove that defendant’s putative negligence was the primary cause of the collision which underlies this action. The trial judge concurred with this assertion1 Summary judgment is rarely granted in *47negligence actions, as courts traditionally defer to a jury’s “unique competence in applying the reasonable man standard to a given fact situation.” Foley v. Matulewicz, 17 Mass. App. Ct. 1004, 1005 (1984);…