Dismissal of defendant closes palm tree collision suit

GALVESTON - An October 2012 lawsuit claiming a two-vehicle accident in Galveston sent the plaintiff into a palm tree was recently dismissed.

Arthur Passaretti filed a motion to dismiss Wilburton, Okla., resident Patricia Ivey on Aug. 28, and Galveston County Court-at-Law No. 3 Judge Kerri Foley granted it the next day.

Passaretti sued Ivey on Oct. 22, 2012, in response to the Oct. 24, 2010, accident.

In court papers filed at the time, Passaretti stated that Ivey tried to get into a parking space at an IHOP near the San Luis Hotel while he was in reverse and caused the collision in question.

Ivey “attempted to quickly grab the parking spot of which the plaintiff was in the process of backing out,” the suit said.

The original petition further asserted that "the vehicles collided violently" and "the impact pushed the plaintiff’s car across the street and into a palm tree."

Meanwhile, Ivey provided an original answer to the allegations earlier this year.

Cause No. 68,562