Roos v. Morrison

913 So. 2d 59, 2005 WL 2372094
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 28, 2005
Docket1D04-1763
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 913 So. 2d 59 (Roos v. Morrison) 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
Roos v. Morrison, 913 So. 2d 59, 2005 WL 2372094 (Fla. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

913 So.2d 59 (2005)

Eleonora Bianca ROOS, Appellant,
v.
Christopher MORRISON, Appellee.

No. 1D04-1763.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

September 28, 2005.
Rehearing Denied November 2, 2005.

*61 Thomas E. Duffy, Jr., of Brown, Terrell, Hogan, Ellis, McClamma and Yegelwel, P.A., Jacksonville, for appellant.

Tracy Synan and J. Stephen O'Hara, Jr., of O'Hara Spradley, P.A., Jacksonville, for appellee.

*62 WOLF, J.

Eleonora Bianca Roos challenges a final order dismissing with prejudice her amended complaint for damages against Christopher Morrison for injuries sustained by Roos when the motorcycle upon which she was a passenger was struck by a sport utility vehicle (SUV) in which Morrison was a passenger. The issue before us is whether a vehicular passenger may be held liable to another vehicular passenger in circumstances where the potentially liable passenger was in a superior position to the driver of that passenger's vehicle to observe a potential hazard and gave affirmative advice to the driver which resulted in a collision with the other passenger's vehicle. We determine that a legal duty exists under these circumstances pursuant to the dictates of McCain v. Florida Power Corp., 593 So.2d 500 (Fla.1992), and we reverse. This, however, is a case of first impression and involves important policy issues regarding liability and insurance coverage. We, therefore, certify a question of great public importance.

Appellant's amended complaint alleged as follows:

2. On or about July 4, 2002, at approximately 1:35 a.m., plaintiff was a passenger on a motorcycle operated by Murat Demir on Third Avenue North near its intersection with Second Street in Jacksonville Beach, Duval County, Florida.
3. Mr. Demir stopped his motorcycle a safe distance behind a Chevrolet Tahoe sport utility vehicle which was being driven by Barret Charles Eubanks.
4. Mr. Eubanks was stopped because of traffic which was blocked ahead of him.
5. Defendant, Christopher Morrison, was a rear seat passenger in the vehicle driven by Barret Eubanks.
6. After waiting for a while for traffic to clear, Mr. Eubanks requested that Defendant Morrison turn around in his seat and see if the roadway behind Mr. Eubanks' vehicle was clear so that he could back up his vehicle.
7. Alternatively, without being requested to, Defendant Morrison realized Mr. Eubanks was having difficulty seeing if anything was behind him so Defendant Morrison gratuitously turned around in his seat to see if the roadway behind Mr. Eubanks' vehicle was clear so that he could back up.
8. Defendant Morrison was in a superior position than was Mr. Eubanks to see what was behind Mr. Eubanks' vehicle.
9. Both Barret Charles Eubanks and Defendant Morrison believed that Defendant Morrison was in a much better position to see if Mr. Eubanks could safely back up than Mr. Eubanks was.
10. Mr. Eubanks could not see whether his intended path of travel behind him was clear but Defendant Morrison, if he exercised reasonable care, could see that Mr. Eubanks' intended path of travel was clear.
11. At that moment, Defendant Morrison failed to exercise reasonable care in determining whether Mr. Eubanks' intended path of travel was clear. Defendant Morrison told Mr. Eubanks that it was clear for him to back up when it was not.
12. This action of Defendant Morrison was gratuitously taken for the benefit of Mr. Eubanks and thus should have been performed in accordance with the duty to exercise reasonable care.
13. Relying on Defendant Morrison's representation that it was safe for him to back up, Mr. Eubanks placed his vehicle in reverse and backed up.
14. As a result of Defendant Morrison's negligence as alleged above, Mr. Eubanks' vehicle struck the motorcycle *63 upon which Plaintiff was a passenger, knocking her to the ground and injuring her.
15. As a result of the negligence of Defendant Morrison, plaintiff suffered bodily injury and resulting pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, mental anguish, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life, expense of hospitalization, medical and nursing care and treatment, loss of earnings, loss of ability to earn money, and aggravation of a pre-existing condition. The losses are either permanent or continuing and plaintiff will suffer the losses in the future.

Significantly, these allegations indicate that Morrison, the passenger, was in a superior vantage point to the driver (see allegations 8, 9, and 10), and that he affirmatively undertook the duty to determine if it was safe to back the vehicle up (see allegations 6, 7, and 11).

"Whether a complaint should be dismissed is a question of law." City of Gainesville v. State, Dep't of Transp., 778 So.2d 519, 522 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001). Thus, our "standard of review is de novo." Id. "For purposes of ruling on the motion to dismiss, the trial court was obliged to treat as true all of the amended complaint's well-pleaded allegations, ... and to look no further than the amended complaint...." Id. "`A reviewing court operates under the same constraints.'" Id. (quoting Andrews v. Fla. Parole Comm'n, 768 So.2d 1257, 1260 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000)). Applying this standard to the trial court's final order of dismissal, the trial court erred in granting Morrison's motion to dismiss. Given the standard for determining the existence of a duty arising from the facts in a particular case as set forth in McCain v. Florida Power Corp., 593 So.2d 500 (Fla.1992), and the discussion of proximate causation in Goldberg v. Florida Power & Light Co., 899 So.2d 1105 (Fla.2005), Roos's amended complaint sufficiently stated both the duty and causation elements of a cause of action for negligence.

There are four recognized sources for the duty of care in a negligence action: "(1) legislative enactments or administration regulations; (2) judicial interpretations of such enactments or regulations; (3) other judicial precedent; and (4) a duty arising from the general facts of the case." McCain, 593 So.2d at 503 n. 2, quoted in Goldberg, 899 So.2d at 1110. Roos's argument in support of the sufficiency of her amended complaint, as well as the allegations themselves, place this case within the fourth category; Morrison's duty of care, if one existed at all, arose from the specific facts of this case.

In McCain, the supreme court explained that "[f]oreseeability clearly is crucial in defining the scope of the general duty placed on every person to avoid negligent acts or omissions." Id. at 503. The supreme court clarified that, while "the question of foreseeability can be relevant both to the element of duty (the existence of which is a question of law) and the element of proximate causation (the existence of which is a question of fact)," "[t]he duty element of negligence focuses on whether the defendant's conduct foreseeably created a broader `zone of risk' that poses a general threat of harm to others." Id. at 502. "Florida, like other jurisdictions, recognizes that a legal duty will arise whenever a human endeavor creates a generalized and foreseeable risk of harming others." Id. at 503. "Where a defendant's conduct creates a foreseeable zone of risk,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
913 So. 2d 59, 2005 WL 2372094, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roos-v-morrison-fladistctapp-2005.