Darley v. Marquee Enterprises, Inc.

565 So. 2d 715, 1990 WL 67299
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 23, 1990
Docket87-3034, 88-0226 and 88-0735
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 565 So. 2d 715 (Darley v. Marquee Enterprises, Inc.) 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
Darley v. Marquee Enterprises, Inc., 565 So. 2d 715, 1990 WL 67299 (Fla. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

565 So.2d 715 (1990)

Margaret Ann DARLEY, As Personal Representative, Acting for and On Behalf of the Estate and Beneficiaries of Susan Annette Darley, Deceased, Appellant,
v.
MARQUEE ENTERPRISES, INC., Marquee Enterprises Corporation, Marquee Entertainment Corporation, Marquee International Corporation, Marquee of Sunrise, Inc., Sunset Musical Theater Corporation, All D/B/a Sunrise Musical Theater, Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, City of Sunrise, D/B/a Sunrise Cultural Arts and Convention Center and D/B/a Sunrise Musical Theater and Old Republic Insurance Company, Appellees.

Nos. 87-3034, 88-0226 and 88-0735.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

May 23, 1990.

*717 Sharon L. Wolfe and Maureen E. Lefebvre of Cooper, Wolfe & Bolotin, P.A., and Stephen G. Fischer of Fox & Fischer, Miami, for appellant.

Michele I. Nelson of Paxton, Crow, Bragg, Smith & Keyser, P.A., West Palm Beach, for appellee — Marquee of Sunrise, Inc.

Glenn J. Webber of Ligman, Martin, Shiley, Neswiacheny & Evans, (withdrawn as counsel after filing brief) and Bohdan Neswiacheny of Law Office of Bohdan Neswiacheny, Fort Lauderdale, for appellee — City of Sunrise and Old Republic Ins. Co.

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING AND CLARIFICATION

DELL, Judge.

We deny appellee Marquee of Sunrise's motion for rehearing but grant its motion for clarification of the opinion filed March 28, 1990 and substitute the following opinion:

Margaret Ann Darley, as personal representative of the Estate of Susan Annette Darley, deceased, appeals from a final judgment entered in favor of appellees in an action for damages arising out of the wrongful death of the decedent. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

Susan Darley and a friend drove from Miami to a disco located in Fort Lauderdale. At approximately 3:00 to 3:30 A.M., Susan, her friend and a man they met at the disco left the club to return to Miami. Susan drove and her two friends sat in the back seat. She proceeded west on Commercial Boulevard towards I-95, missed the I-95 entrance ramp and continued westbound on Commercial Boulevard. Signs located at the intersection of Commercial Boulevard and Northwest 95th Avenue direct traffic to make a left turn onto Northwest 95th Avenue. Northwest 95th Avenue proceeds south and connects with a roadway located in the parking lot of the Sunrise Musical Theater. The parking lot roadway continues southbound to a second left turn. The distance from the intersection of Commercial Boulevard and Northwest 95th Avenue to the second left turn is approximately two-tenths of a mile. Susan Darley successfully negotiated the turn from Commercial Boulevard on to Northwest 95th Avenue, but she failed to negotiate the second left turn located in the parking lot. The car traveled over a curb, between two flagpoles located on the sidewalk, down a grass embankment and into an artificial lake. The two passengers in the vehicle escaped out of the open driver's window. Susan Darley did not escape and drowned.

The passengers in the vehicle testified that the theater premises were very dark; there were no lights in either the parking lot or the building. A traffic reconstruction expert estimated the speed of the vehicle at between 28 and 33 miles an hour and that Susan Darley braked approximately ten feet before the vehicle struck the curb. A jury returned a verdict in favor of defendants/appellees.

Appellant has raised fifteen points on appeal. Three points concern the determination of Susan Darley's status on the Sunrise Musical Theater property, eight points relate to the trial court's rulings on admissibility of evidence and examination of witnesses, three points concern the trial court's instructions to the jury and appellant's final point relates to the trial court's entry of judgment for costs.

SUSAN DARLEY'S STATUS ON THE SUNRISE MUSICAL THEATER PREMISES.

Appellant first contends that the trial court erred when it refused to instruct the jury as a matter of law that at the time of the accident Susan Darley was an invitee on the premises. Appellant argues that under section 95.361(1), Florida Statutes (1987), the parking lot roadway became a public road because appellee, the City of Sunrise, and/or its agent, appellee, Marquee of Sunrise, Inc., manager of the theater, maintained and repaired the parking *718 lot road continuously and uninterruptedly for at least four years prior to the date of the accident.[1] The record at best contains conflicting evidence concerning the applicability of section 95.361(1). Therefore, we hold that the trial court did not err when it refused to instruct the jury that as a matter of law, Susan Darley was an invitee on the premises.

Appellant next contends that the trial court erred when it refused to submit to the jury the issue of Susan's status as an invitee on the premises. We agree. Although appellant did not present sufficient evidence to apply section 95.361 as a matter of law, the record does contain disputed and conflicting evidence concerning the maintenance of the parking lot roadway for the four-year period preceding the accident. From such evidence, a jury could conclude that the city maintained the roadway for the prescribed four years preceding the accident. Therefore, we hold that the trial court erred when it failed to appropriately instruct the jury on this question.

Appellant also argues the record contains sufficient evidence from which the jury could have determined that the parking lot road was public and that Susan Darley had an invitation, either expressed or reasonably implied, to be on the premises. Appellees argue Susan Darley could not have been an invitee because she was not on the theater's premises for a purpose directly or indirectly related to its business. The supreme court, in Post v. Lunney, 261 So.2d 146 (Fla. 1972), and this court, in Zipkin v. Rubin Construction Co., 418 So.2d 1040 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982), adopted the "invitation test" for determining invitee status as set forth in section 332, Restatement (Second) of Torts. The restatement provides:

(1) An invitee is either a public invitee or a business visitor.
(2) A public invitee is a person who is invited to enter or remain on land as a member of the public for a purpose for which the land is held open to the public.
(3) A business visitor is a person who is invited to enter or remain on land for a purpose directly or indirectly connected with business dealing with the possessor of land.

Restatement (Second) of Torts § 332 (1964).

We agree with the trial court's determination that Susan Darley's presence on the theater premises did not fall within paragraph (3) of section 332. The record establishes that at 3:30 A.M. she did not enter the property for a purpose, either directly or indirectly connected with the Sunrise Musical Theater's business.

In Wood v. Camp, 284 So.2d 691 (Fla. 1973), the supreme court said:

It may be that on the facts in a particular case the determination of the category of the plaintiff must be determined as a matter of law by the trial judge,... other causes will present a factual issue for the jury as to whether plaintiff is invitee, licensee or trespasser under appropriate instructions.
... .
The trial judge's determination of which categories fall within the evidence is pertinent to what charges shall be given to the jury.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
565 So. 2d 715, 1990 WL 67299, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/darley-v-marquee-enterprises-inc-fladistctapp-1990.