This is the third motion for summary judgment that the court has struck down in the past two weeks.

PALM BEACH, FL / ACCESS Newswire / July 16, 2025 / A Palm Beach County court has denied a motion by Caron Renaissance, a Delray Beach-based substance use treatment facility, that sought to invoke a Florida statute designed to prevent impaired individuals from recovering damages in civil lawsuits.

Florida Statute § 768.36, sometimes called the "alcohol or drug defense," was enacted to limit civil liability when a person's injuries are primarily the result of their own intoxication. However, courts have consistently held that it is up to a jury-not a judge-to decide whether the statute applies in a particular case.

That distinction proved critical in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the parents of 18-year-old Nathan Mann. Nathan died in September 2020 after leaving Caron Renaissance without his phone or financial resources. He was struck by a train two days later in Oakland Park.

Caron argued that because postmortem toxicology showed Nathan had alcohol and substances in his system at the time of his death, the family should be barred from recovering damages for its alleged negligence in treating Nathan. The court rejected that argument, emphasizing that factual disputes remain as to Nathan's level of impairment and whether he was more than 50 percent at fault for his death.

Nathan's family alleges that Caron failed to take appropriate steps to protect their son, who had been admitted for treatment of mental health and substance use issues. "It's hard to understand how a facility charged with helping young people recover could try to avoid responsibility by pointing to the very harm they were supposed to prevent," said Ryan P. Ingraham of McLaughlin & Stern LLP.

This is Caron's third motion seeking summary judgment to be denied in the last two weeks. The first order denying summary judgment on negligence was issued July 6, 2025.

The Mann's are represented by Leslie M. Kroeger, Rachael Flanagan, and Takisha Richardson of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC and Susan Ramsey and Ryan P. Ingraham of McLaughlin & Stern, LLP. The jury trial will take place in Palm Beach County later this year.

The name of the case is: Estate of Nathan Mann v. Caron of Florida, Inc. d/b/a Caron Renaissance, Case No. 2023-CA-009963, Palm Beach Cnty. Circuit Court (15th Circ.).

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SOURCE: Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC