Dania Jai-Alai Palace, Inc. v. Sykes

425 So. 2d 594
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedDecember 29, 1982
Docket80-535
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 425 So. 2d 594 (Dania Jai-Alai Palace, Inc. v. Sykes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dania Jai-Alai Palace, Inc. v. Sykes, 425 So. 2d 594 (Fla. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

425 So.2d 594 (1982)

DANIA JAI-ALAI PALACE, INC., Carrousel Concessions, Inc., and Saturday Corporation, Appellants,
v.
Gladys SYKES, Appellee.

No. 80-535.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

December 29, 1982.
Rehearing Denied February 9, 1983.

*595 Wm. R. Dawes, Guy B. Bailey, Jr., and Sara Soto of Bailey & Dawes, Miami, for appellants.

Gilbert A. Haddad of Haddad & Josephs, Miami, for appellee.

*596 HURLEY, Judge.

This appeal follows a plaintiff's verdict in a personal injury action. The principal question presented is whether a parent corporation may be held liable for torts committed by an employee of a wholly-owned subsidiary corporation. We answer in the affirmative since the record in this case contains substantial competent evidence to support findings that the subsidiary was a mere instrumentality of the parent and that the employee was acting within the course and scope of his employment. Therefore, for this and other reasons enumerated herein, we affirm in part and reverse in part.

On December 15, 1977, Gladys Sykes attempted to patronize the Dania Jai-Alai fronton. She arrived in her car and was directed into the valet parking area by a security guard employed by Dania Jai-Alai Palace, Inc. She purchased a parking ticket and turned the car over to the ticket seller who was employed by another corporation, Carrousel Concessions, Inc. Then she began to walk forward in front of her car toward the main gate of the fronton.

Ms. Sykes' car was the last in a short line of cars which were temporarily stopped near the fronton entrance waiting to be moved by parking attendants. There was about a four foot space between the Sykes' car and the one ahead. Since parking attendants were about to move the other cars in the line, the ticket seller, who was in overall charge of keeping things moving, got into Ms. Sykes' car and prepared to drive it. He looked at the gear shift indicator and moved it from "park" to "drive." As he did so, he took his foot from the brake pedal and placed it on the accelerator pedal. The car began to move forward and, at this point, he looked up and saw Ms. Sykes in front of the car, near its center. He attempted to brake, but his foot slipped and hit the accelerator. Ms. Sykes was propelled forward and crushed into the stationary car ahead; she was seriously injured.

Initially, Ms. Sykes sued Dania Jai-Alai Palace, Inc. (Dania). Later, when her attorneys discovered that Carrousel Concessions, Inc. (Carrousel) was running the valet parking, she amended her complaint to include Carrousel and to include Saturday Corporation (Saturday), the parent corporation of Dania and Carrousel.

Ms. Sykes sought to hold Carrousel, the driver's employer, liable under the theory of respondeat superior and for independent acts of negligence. She sought to hold Dania liable under three alternate rationales: 1) a premises liability theory; 2) an apparent agency theory, i.e., that the two corporations operated the fronton in such a close knit fashion that the public was led to believe it was a single business entity and, thus, each was the agent of the other; and 3) an "alter ego" or "mere instrumentality" theory, i.e., that the operations of Dania and Carrousel were so intertwined that equitable principles justify piercing their corporate veils. Ms. Sykes also sought to hold Saturday, the parent corporation, liable for the tortious acts of Carrousel's employee on the theory that Carrousel and Dania were the mere instrumentalities of Saturday.

At the conclusion of the evidence, the trial court ruled as follows: (1) It entered a directed verdict on the driver's negligence and, consequently, entered a directed verdict against Carrousel, finding that it was liable for its employee's negligence. (2) It directed a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, Ms. Sykes, finding that she was without comparative fault. (3) Based on the directed verdict entered against Carrousel, the court granted a directed verdict against Dania, finding that the fronton had been operated in such a manner that the public had been led to believe that it was a single entity. (4) At the defendants' behest, and over the plaintiff's objections, the court ruled that the plaintiff's theory of premises liability against Dania would not be submitted to the jury since Dania had been found liable under another theory. (5) Lastly, the trial court ruled that the issue of Saturday's ultimate responsibility and the amount of the plaintiff's damages would be submitted to the jury.

The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff and against all three corporate defendants in the amount of $775,000.

*597 I

Carrousel's Employee's Negligence

Florida courts employ a rebuttable presumption in rear-end collision cases: the driver of a vehicle which strikes another vehicle in the rear is presumed to be negligent. Brethauer v. Brassell, 347 So.2d 656, 657 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977); Lincoln v. Miggins, 249 So.2d 88, 88-89 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971). If the driver of the second vehicle does not offer a satisfactory explanation as to why he collided with the car in front, then he is subject to having a verdict directed against him on the issue of liability. Id.

Here, the defendants failed to rebut the presumption of negligence. The driver testified that he got into Ms. Sykes' car after she had paid him. The car was at the end of a line of cars which were about to be moved by parking attendants and there was about four feet between the Sykes' car and the one ahead. The driver knew that customers frequently walked in front of their cars to get to the fronton. Indeed, customers had to cross the line of cars, either by walking in front of or behind their cars, to enter the fronton.

When the driver entered Ms. Sykes' car the motor was running with the automatic transmission in the "park" position. The driver shifted from "park" to "drive," and, without looking forward, moved his foot from the brake to the accelerator. Only then did he look forward and discover Ms. Sykes in front of the car. Although he tried to apply the brakes, he hit the accelerator and caused Ms. Sykes to be propelled forward and crushed between the cars.

The driver's explanation does not rebut the presumption of negligence. He admits that he set the car in motion without first checking the path ahead even though he had reason to believe that the path might be obstructed by pedestrian traffic and other cars. Thus, the driver negligently created a risk. That he subsequently made an unsuccessful effort to avoid the risk does not excuse his initial negligence. Accordingly, the trial court was correct in directing a verdict on the issue of the driver's negligence and his employer's liability.

II

Negligence of Ms. Sykes

Next, we consider the propriety of the trial court's action of granting a directed verdict on the issue of Ms. Sykes' negligence. The applicable standard requires that we view the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the appellants, the non-moving parties. See Burmeister v. American Motorists Insurance Co., 403 So.2d 541, 542 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981). Applying this standard to the case at bar, we find that the evidence will support a reasonable inference that Ms. Sykes walked between two cars which were about to be moved without looking to see if the driver of her car was aware of her presence and was willing to allow her to pass. If this were the jury's finding, it would constitute some negligence on the part of Ms. Sykes.

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425 So. 2d 594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dania-jai-alai-palace-inc-v-sykes-fladistctapp-1982.