Hines v. Trager Construction Co.

188 So. 2d 826
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 14, 1966
DocketH-21
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 188 So. 2d 826 (Hines v. Trager Construction Co.) 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
Hines v. Trager Construction Co., 188 So. 2d 826 (Fla. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

188 So.2d 826 (1966)

Donald L. HINES, Appellant,
v.
TRAGER CONSTRUCTION CO., Inc., a Florida Corporation, Appellee.

No. H-21.

District Court of Appeal of Florida. First District.

July 14, 1966.
Rehearing Denied August 22, 1966.

William H. Maness, Jacksonville, for appellant.

S. Thompson Tygart, Jr., of Law Offices of Charles Cook Howell, Jr., Jacksonville, for appellee.

WIGGINTON, Judge.

Appellant brought this action for damages suffered as a result of the death of his minor son who died from injuries received as a consequence of appellee's alleged negligence. From a final judgment based upon a jury's verdict in favor of appellee, this appeal is taken.

The action is in tort and the issue of liability is predicated upon the attractive nuisance doctrine. Appellant's minor son, while playing on the job site of a building under construction, was killed when a bundle of roof trusses fell on him. The job site was under the direct supervision and control of appellee, Trager Construction Co., who was the contractor engaged in the construction of the building. American Truss Co., Inc., was also joined as a party defendant in the case. The complaint alleged that American Truss Co. was guilty of negligence in the manner in which it stacked a bundle of roof trusses which fell *827 and killed plaintiff's son. Trager was charged with negligently permitting the trusses to remain in a dangerous condition on its property under circumstances where it knew or should have known that children in the neighborhood would be attracted to the job site and might be injured thereby. Trager defended the action by interposing the defenses of general denial and contributory negligence. Trager also filed a cross-claim against its codefendant, American Truss Co., charging that the latter was guilty of active and primary negligence in the manner in which it stacked the roof trusses on the job site while Trager's liability arose, if at all, only as a result of secondary or passive negligence. The prayer of the cross-claim was that it have judgment against American Truss for all sums found to be due by Trager to the plaintiff in any final judgment rendered in the cause.

Upon motion made during the course of the proceedings prior to trial, a final summary judgment was entered in favor of American Truss on Trager's cross-claim against it. On appeal to this court, the summary final judgment was affirmed.[1] As a consequence of the summary final judgment, American Truss Co. was dismissed as a party defendant and the case proceeded to trial only on the issues made by the complaint of appellant and the answer of appellee Trager.

During the trial while plaintiff was putting on his case, he proffered in evidence and requested permission of the court to read to the jury that part of defendant Trager's cross-claim against American Truss Co., which was as follows:

"* * * [T]he boy wandered over to the lot whereon the trusses were stacked, and was there killed when some of them fell upon him.
* * * * * *
"* * * No agent, servant or employee of Trager was present at the time * * * young Hines received his fatal injuries, or was then and there actually exercising any control whatsoever over the premises * * *; although Trager, at said time and place, did have the right of control over, and the primary responsibility for, the erection of the new house.
* * * * * *
"* * * Said death was proximately caused by the negligence of said employee or employees of American Truss, acting as aforesaid, in this, to wit: In making delivery of said trusses American Truss unloaded and placed them upon the ground in bundles, with the point of the trusses (that part which would form the peak of the roof after the trusses were installed in the house) resting on the ground and that part of the trusses which would form the ceiling facing the sky so that the entire weight of the bundles of trusses rested at one point on the ground, leaving a flat surface on top resembling a see-saw. Notwithstanding the fact that American Truss know or should have known that the unloading of said trusses in the manner aforesaid created a dangerous condition and constituted a hazard to children playing in or about said construction site, American Truss nevertheless carelessly and negligently failed and omitted to brace said bundles and support them to prevent them from toppling over or being toppled over and carelessly and negligently left the premises under construction in an inherently dangerous condition. As a direct result of this, Randall Hines, seven years of age, was attracted to the premises on which the dwelling was being constructed and while he and other children were playing upon and around the trusses one or more bundles of them toppled and fell over upon his head and body — as a result of which his head was crushed and he, himself, killed.
"* * * Trager says that (a) its negligence in the premises was (i) secondary, *828 not primary, and (ii) passive, not active; * * *."

The foregoing excerpt from defendant's cross-claim against American Truss was offered in evidence on the theory that it constituted either a judicial confession or an admission against interest, and therefore was admissible. The court's ruling sustaining Trager's objection to appellant's proffer of the foregoing evidence is assigned as an error on appeal.

It is appellant's contention that a pleading containing allegations of fact filed by a party in a judicial proceeding is admissible in evidence in the same or other proceeding on the theory that it constitutes either a judicial confession or admission against interest. In support of this position appellant relies on the statement in Florida Jurisprudence dealing with the subject of pleadings:

"An admission in a pleading is, as between the parties, accepted as a fact without the need for supporting evidence. Whether expressed or implied, the admission dispenses with the necessity for proof on the issue conceded."[2]

Appellant also invites our attention to the corollary statement in Florida Jurisprudence dealing with the subject of evidence which is as follows:

"The general rule is that statements in a pleading have evidentiary value, and an admission of a fact by a party in a pleading may be introduced against him in another proceeding, if relevant, unless the pleading was filed under the orthodox common-law system of pleading. * *"[3]

The applicability of the foregoing principles to the case sub judice is doubtful. Although factual admissions in a pleading have been held to be admissible as evidence without the need for supporting proof, this principle appears to be confined to facts alleged in pleadings between the parties. The cross-claim which appellant sought to introduce in evidence in this case was between appellee and a codefendant who was later dismissed from the case by summary final judgment. Secondly, the factual allegations contained in appellee's cross-claim were not in dispute and were established by other evidence adduced at the trial. The only allegations of the cross-claim which could have given color of support to appellant's position were those in which appellee alleged that American Truss was guilty of primary negligence and appellee's liability arose as a result of passive or secondary negligence. These are not allegations of fact but constitute conclusions of law. When proffered for the obvious purpose intended, the allegations were incompetent and immaterial.

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Bluebook (online)
188 So. 2d 826, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hines-v-trager-construction-co-fladistctapp-1966.