SPECIAL OLYMPICS FLORIDA, INC. v. Showalter

6 So. 3d 662, 2009 Fla. App. LEXIS 2248, 2009 WL 631985
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 13, 2009
Docket5D07-2104, 5D07-2332
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 6 So. 3d 662 (SPECIAL OLYMPICS FLORIDA, INC. v. Showalter) 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
SPECIAL OLYMPICS FLORIDA, INC. v. Showalter, 6 So. 3d 662, 2009 Fla. App. LEXIS 2248, 2009 WL 631985 (Fla. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

The central question in this case is whether Appellant may be found liable for the acts of one of its volunteers who molested Appellees, two developmentally disabled adults, in a bowling center parking lot. Although we reverse the judgment and instruct the trial court to direct a verdict as to two counts, we remand for a new trial on the negligence count.

Appellant is a nonprofit organization that “[p]rovide[s] sports training and competition for persons with ... disabilities, [and] ongoing opportunities to participate with their families and the community.” Appellant sponsors between 11 and 13 competitions per year in Florida. All of Appellant’s activities are run by county coordinators, who are volunteers, as are the coaches and others who assist in operating the programs. Appellant has approximately 34 paid staff members throughout Florida and as many as 17,000 volunteers. Appellees, Margaret Showal-ter and Nancy Vasil, are both developmentally disabled adults who participate as athletes in Appellant’s events. Ms. Show-alter is apparently somewhat self-reliant, although a social worker resides with her. Ms. Vasil lives with her father, who is her guardian.

One of Appellant’s organized activities, in which Appellees participate, is an annual bowling competition. The athletes practice between August and November each year and then participate in county, regional and state competitions. Appellant arranged with Colonial Lanes, a public bowling center in Orange County, to conduct much of its bowling activity there. Practices were scheduled to begin every Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and the athletes were instructed to arrive no earlier than 1:00 p.m. However, the athletes widely ignored this instruction. As a consequence, volunteers routinely arrived at practices early because they anticipated that the athletes would arrive early and need supervision.

[664]*664On October 25, 2003, the day of the molestations, bowling practice was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. On the same day and at the same facility, Appellant also scheduled physicals for some of the athletes, beginning at 10:00 a.m. Appellant had announced the physicals at a prior event via loudspeaker. Appellees knew they were not scheduled for physicals, but they both arrived early to socialize before practice. Ms. Showalter travelled to the bowling center using public transportation. Ms. Vasil’s father dropped her off at the bowling alley at 10:00 a.m. Although Ms. Vasil’s father was aware that practice started at 1:30 p.m., he assumed, based on past experience, that someone from Special Olympics would be there to supervise.

Another early arriver to the October 25 practice was the accused molester, 79-year-old James McDonald, who had been involved with Appellant for many years in several capacities. As his son was an athlete, Mr. McDonald participated in events as a parent. He was also a registered volunteer. In this capacity, he had been head bowling coach from the 1980s until 1994, at which time he stepped down as head coach due to accusations that he had molested another athlete and her sister. The incidents were investigated by the police, but the charges were dropped two years later. Although Appellant disputes that Mr. McDonald continued to serve in a volunteer capacity after 1994, the evidence taken in the light most favorable to Appel-lees suggests to the contrary.

Evidence was presented that Mr. McDonald’s volunteer application remained on file until after the molestations involved in this case. According to Appellant’s routine practice, this suggested that Mr. McDonald’s volunteer status had not been terminated. He continued to attend practices and events regularly, even arriving early to help all the athletes, not just his son. Louise Newton, the successor bowling coach, admitted that Mr. McDonald was still there every week acting like he was in charge. As she stated: “I guess it was hard [for Mr. McDonald] to let go.” After the instant molestations, Appellant sent a letter to Mr. McDonald banning him from attendance at events, but stating that “there will be an investigation and [Appellant] shall either reinstate your volunteer duties and opportunities or we shall have to determine an appropriate course of action ... depending on the outcome of the investigation.” Mr. McDonald apparently heeded the directive as he did not attend any of Appellant’s events up to the date of trial in 2007.

In addition to the accusations that Mr. McDonald had previously molested an athlete and her sister in 1994, other allegations against Mr. McDonald were brought to Appellant’s attention prior to October 25, 2003. Between 1994 and 2003, one of the Appellees reported to Ms. Newton that Mr. McDonald had molested her on more than one occasion, albeit not in connection with any of Appellant’s events. During this same time period, Ms. Newton was also informed that Mr. McDonald attended dances conducted for developmentally disabled adults (not associated with Appellant’s activities) where he escorted attendees to and from his van. Ms. Newton discussed these issues with Mr. McDonald but accepted his denial of claims of wrongdoing. She did, however, caution him to avoid taking developmentally disadvantaged people to his van because it appeared inappropriate. At some point in the year 2000 or 2001, Ms. Newton began keeping a “closer eye” on Mr. McDonald and had a discussion with Charlotte Day, Appellant’s county coordinator, about whether he was a liability. Ms. Newton did not, however, warn anyone else associated with Appellant or the athletes’ par[665]*665ents or guardians about any suspicions concerning Mr. McDonald.

Other than to accept Mr. McDonald’s resignation as head bowling coach, Appellant did nothing to limit his involvement with its activities. In fact, most people within Appellant’s organization gave no apparent credit to the accusations against Mr. McDonald. For example, the county coordinator in 1994, Jane Fournier, did nothing to investigate the 1994 incident, assuming that because prosecutors dropped the charges two years later, Mr. McDonald was cleared of wrongdoing. When Charlotte Day took over as county coordinator in 1998, Ms. Fournier told her that the 1994 incident had been unfounded. Consequently, Ms. Day did not investigate the charges in any way. The county co-coordinator, Patricia Webb, although aware of many of the allegations against Mr. McDonald, concluded that he was “completely harmless.”

On the day of the instant molestations, Ms. Webb arrived at the bowling center shortly after 10 a.m. to assist a volunteer physician with performing the physicals. Meanwhile, Mr. McDonald lured Appellees outside to his van where he subsequently molested them, one after the other, either in or near his van. At some point in time, Ms. Webb looked out the window into the parking lot and saw Mr. McDonald molesting one of the Appellees. While she was summoning police to report the incident, Mr. McDonald molested the other Appel-lee. He was subsequently arrested, and his culpability is not herein disputed.

Appellees’ theory of liability was threefold. In their first count, Appellees asserted that Appellant was under a duty to protect them or control Mr. McDonald, or both, so as to prevent the foreseeable conduct of Mr. McDonald, and Appellant’s failure to do so amounted to negligence. In them second count, Appellees asserted that Appellant was liable on a statutory theory. Finally, in their third count, Ap-pellees sought to impose liability on Appellant under an agency theory. The jury returned a verdict for each Appellee on all three counts.

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SPECIAL OLYMPICS FLORIDA, INC. v. Showalter
6 So. 3d 662 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
6 So. 3d 662, 2009 Fla. App. LEXIS 2248, 2009 WL 631985, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/special-olympics-florida-inc-v-showalter-fladistctapp-2009.