Martinello v. B & P USA, INC.

566 So. 2d 761, 1990 WL 141454
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 7, 1990
Docket74496
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 566 So. 2d 761 (Martinello v. B & P USA, INC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Martinello v. B & P USA, INC., 566 So. 2d 761, 1990 WL 141454 (Fla. 1990).

Opinion

566 So.2d 761 (1990)

Phillip MARTINELLO, Etc., Petitioner,
v.
B & P USA, INC., Etc., Respondent.

No. 74496.

Supreme Court of Florida.

June 7, 1990.
Rehearing Denied September 28, 1990.

Alex T. Barak, North Miami Beach, for petitioner.

Angela C. Flowers of Daniels and Hicks, P.A., and Anderson, Moss, Parks & Russo, P.A., Miami, for respondent.

REVISED OPINION

OVERTON, Justice.

We have for review Martinello v. B & P USA, Inc., 545 So.2d 956 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989), in which the Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's holding that Martinello was not entitled to try this cause under the attractive nuisance doctrine when B & P USA, Inc., the defendant below, admitted that it owed a duty to a child as an invitee and that it had breached that duty. Consequently, the court held that the jury properly considered comparative negligence. In its decision, the court acknowledged conflict with the Third District Court of Appeal's decision in Dukes v. Pinder, 211 So.2d 575 (Fla. 3d DCA), cert. denied, 219 So.2d 700 (Fla. 1968). We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(3), Florida Constitution. We quash the district court's decision, finding that the plaintiff was entitled to choose which theory should be applied under these circumstances.

A review of the record indicates that Christian Martinello, a ten-year-old boy, and his friend entered a construction site consisting of three partially finished homes. The boys placed ladders against two of the houses, enabling them to climb to the roof of each one. The boys then proceeded to the third house, climbed up a ladder which was already leaning against the side of the house, and sat down on the edge of the roof. After Christian's friend jumped down, Christian, in an attempt to stand up, slipped and fell off the roof, injuring his hands. Phillip Martinello, Christian's father, filed a complaint against B & P USA, Inc., on behalf of his son and himself. At pretrial conference, the parties stipulated to the following facts:

It is claimed that on February 17, 1985 that the Defendant was negligent, pursuant to the "attractive nuisance" doctrine, in the maintenance of the construction site at this house in that there was a ladder which was allowed to remain at the side of the house, thereby enticing minors to climb up to the roof of said house. It is further claimed that on that date the minor Plaintiff climbed up to the *762 top of the roof of said house and fell off the roof of said house, sustaining permanent injuries to his hands... . The Defendant has denied negligence and has affirmatively claimed that the minor Plaintiff was the sole cause of his injuries and damage... .

At the commencement of the trial, B & P USA admitted negligence, specifically, that it owed the child a duty, which it breached, and asserted that by this admission the child should be considered an invitee. Therefore, B & P USA contended that this was a general negligence case, that the doctrine of comparative negligence applied, and that the attractive nuisance doctrine was inapplicable. Martinello objected and requested that the jury be instructed on the theory of attractive nuisance. The trial judge denied the request and instructed the jury on general negligence principles.[1] The jury determined that the boy was eighty percent negligent and that he had suffered $10,000 in damages, entitling him to $2,000.[2] Further, the jury determined that the father was not entitled to any damages on his own claim. On appeal, the district court found that the doctrine of attractive nuisance was not applicable, stating:

Attractive nuisance is not, as contended, a separate cause of action or theory of liability. Rather, it is a doctrine which imposes a duty, on a landowner or occupant, to trespassing children, that would otherwise not exist under circumstances of non-liability to trespassers. It recognizes that trespassing children, unlike adults, may be incapable of perceiving or making reasonable judgments about dangers encountered on the premises. Its purpose is to afford the trespassing child, where the elements of the doctrine are met, the same protection, applying principles of ordinary negligence, that would be afforded an invitee on the premises.
We conclude that the attractive nuisance doctrine is not applicable where the defendant admits there is a duty and admits negligence because the status of the child on the premises is no longer a relevant issue. Under such circumstances, there is no reason to instruct the jury on principles of law that are not applicable to an invitee.
Where, as here, the doctrine of attractive nuisance is inapplicable, principles of ordinary negligence, including comparative negligence apply.

545 So.2d at 957 (citations omitted, emphasis added.)[3]

*763 Martinello contends that he was entitled to present his case to the jury on the attractive nuisance theory. Relying on Dukes v. Pinder, 211 So.2d 575 (Fla. 3d DCA), cert. denied, 219 So.2d 700 (Fla. 1968), Martinello argues that a new trial is necessary since the trial court erred in allowing B & P USA, by its admissions, to have the case tried under general negligence principles. In Dukes, the Third District Court of Appeal held:

The [trial] court did not err in refusing to instruct on general principles of negligence law, such as duty, breach of duty, proximate cause, and contributory negligence because these principles are not applicable where the sole basis of the claimed liability of the defendant is that the defendant maintained an attractive nuisance.

Id. at 576. On the other hand, B & P USA argues that the trial and district courts properly used general principles of negligence in view of its admissions. To resolve this issue, it is necessary to distinguish the attractive nuisance doctrine from negligence to a child invitee.

At common law, trespassers had "no right to demand that [a landowner] provide them with a safe place to trespass, or that he protect them in their wrongful use of his property." Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts § 58 (5th ed. 1984). As a result, the owner was "not liable for injury to trespassers caused by his failure to exercise reasonable care to put his land in a safe condition for them." Id. In Florida, trespassers generally have few remedies for injuries received on another's land: "The unwavering rule as to a trespasser is that the property owner is under the duty only to avoid willful and wanton harm to him and upon discovery of his presence to warn him of known dangers not open to ordinary observation." Wood v. Camp, 284 So.2d 691, 693-94 (Fla. 1973) (footnote omitted). The attractive nuisance doctrine is an exception to this general rule. This doctrine, established to preserve the safety of children and also to protect the rights of property owners, permits trespassing children to recover against landowners in certain instances. Section 339 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts (1965), sets forth the basic elements of the attractive nuisance doctrine:

A possessor of land is subject to liability for physical harm to children trespassing thereon caused by an artificial condition upon the land if
(a) the place where the condition exists is one upon which the possessor knows or has reason to know that children are likely to trespass, and

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Bluebook (online)
566 So. 2d 761, 1990 WL 141454, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martinello-v-b-p-usa-inc-fla-1990.