Delaware court finds ‘issue of fact’ precluding summary judgment, despite metadata in photograph files proving the issue, that the court held was ‘an issue of material fact’ that precludes judgment as a matter of law.

This action involved a motor vehicle collision where the factual dispute at issue on summary judgment addressed whether the plaintiff had timely filed her complaint. 

The plaintiff filed her action on November 3, 2020, claiming the accident had occurred on November 6, 2018, within the two-year statute of limitations. The defense moved for summary judgment with evidence that the metadata on photographs taken by the defendant/driver of the vehicle post accident showed the photographs were taken on November 1, 2018, which would prove the complaint was not timely filed. The metadata evidence was not disproven nor contradicted by any empirical evidence. The plaintiff’s opposition merely relied on her testimony, that she did not recall the exact date but “remembers it was ‘around the 5 or 6’ of November.” 

Despite the only evidence against the November 1, 2018, date being the plaintiff’s foggy, uncorroborated memory, the court found this sufficient to deny summary judgment.
 

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