Starling v. Saha

451 So. 2d 516, 1984 Fla. App. LEXIS 13001
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 10, 1984
DocketNo. 82-1457
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 451 So. 2d 516 (Starling v. Saha) 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
Starling v. Saha, 451 So. 2d 516, 1984 Fla. App. LEXIS 13001 (Fla. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

The Starlings appeal from a final summary judgment entered against them on their negligence count (Count I) and the dismissal of their attractive nuisance count (Count II). The appellants sued the Sahas after their minor son, Chad, drowned while swimming in a pond which had been excavated on the Sahas’ land. Chad was an excellent swimmer, but he was caught and held under water by the suction of a hose attached to a pump, which had been left running, unsupervised, at the pond. We think the attractive nuisance count states a good cause of action and it was improperly [518]*518dismissed; but we affirm the summary judgment on the negligence count because the record establishes as a matter of law that the relationship between the Sahas and the operator of the pump was one of employer-independent contractor.

COUNT I: NEGLIGENCE

The record shows that Dr. Saha entered into an oral agreement with White to dig a pond on his property to water Saha’s cattle. In return, White was entitled to keep or resell all the dirt. By the summer of 1980 the pond was excavated, but it needed to be squared and sloped. White arranged for Davis, another dirt broker, to do the final work, because he did not have the needed equipment. Davis started his pump running on the morning of the day Chad drowned. He left it running unattended, and was not on the property at the time Chad drowned by becoming caught in the hose. Saha did not supervise Davis or White in any manner, although he made periodic visits to the property to feed and look after his livestock.

The trial court held that the relationship between White and Davis and the Sahas was one of employer-independent contractor. The basic element in an employer-employee relationship is the right or the actual exercise of control by the employer over the details or means by which the work is performed. Farmers & Merchants Bank v. Vocelle, 106 So.2d 92 (Fla. 1st DCA 1958). In this case, Davis was clearly an independent contractor. Although he may have been negligent in leaving the pump running, his employer, Saha, has no vicarious liability for his negligence. Fisherman’s Paradise, Inc. v. Greenfield, 417 So.2d 306 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982).

Further, the record establishes that appellees did not know Davis was running the pump at the time of this accident or that it was a dangerous risk to the neighborhood children who trespassed to swim in the pond. In order for there to be liability on the part of the landowner, it must be established that the landowner knew or should have known of the danger or risk to the class of persons, one of whom was injured. The Sahas did not know of the pump or any defect in the hose; nor should they have known because they were not exercising control over the pond. That control was in the hands of the independent contractor. See Winn Dixie Stores, Inc. v. Virginia Construction Company, Inc., 330 So.2d 158 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976).

COUNT II: ATTRACTIVE NUISANCE

In Count II appellants alleged that Dr. Saha and his employees knew neighborhood children entered Dr. Saha’s property to swim in the excavated pond; and that the unsupervised running of the pump in the pond, with its concealed and unguarded intake hose beneath the surface involved an unreasonable risk of death to the children; and that Chad was drowned when he became caught in the hose by the suction of the pump. The lower court dismissed this count because appellants alleged that the child was attracted onto Dr. Saha’s premises by the prospect of swimming in the pond rather than curiosity about the pump or hose. This view, however, overlooks the fact that the pond alone did not kill the child. The combined effect of the hose holding him and the water in the pond accomplished the drowning.

In applying the attractive nuisance doctrine, we are bound by the Florida Supreme Court’s requirement that the plaintiff allege and prove that a child was lured or attracted onto the land by the condition or structure that injured him. Johnson v. Bathey, 376 So.2d 848 (Fla.1979); Concrete Construction, Inc. of Lakeworth v. Petterson, 216 So.2d 221 (Fla.1968). The source of this requirement is apparently the much criticized opinion by Justice Holmes in United Zinc & Chemical Company v. Britt, 258 U.S. 268, 42 S.Ct. 299, 66 L.Ed. 615 (1921).1 However, we should not read [519]*519this requirement so literally that we abolish application of the attractive nuisance doctrine to concealed dangers operating in connection with conditions or other objects on property, which jointly contribute to the child’s injury.

The Florida Supreme Court’s cases which discuss the allurement requirement do not mandate this interpretation. In Johnson, a child was injured by a pump operating on dry land, after being attracted onto the land by the prospect of receiving surplus vegetables from a packing house. The pump alone was the cause of his injury. The discussion of the allurement plus injury element in Petterson is dictum. Petter-son held that the explosion of a construction cartridge which was found and carried away by a child the previous day was too remote in time and location to impose liability on the landowner. The injury has to occur on the premises.

Allen v. William P. McDonald Corporation, 42 So.2d 706, 706 (Fla.1949), states the rule of law which is controlling in this case:

[T]he owner of artificial lakes, fish ponds, mill ponds, gin ponds and other pools, streams and bodies of water are not guilty of actionable negligence on account of drownings therein unless they are constructed so as to constitute a trap or raft or unless there is some unusual element of danger lurking about them not existent in ponds generally. (Emphasis supplied).

The Allen court held that the complaint stated a cause of action under the attractive nuisance doctrine. The complaint alleged that a child was attracted onto the defendant’s property by white sand piled around an artificial pond. It said the steep slopes and resulting drop-off into the water constituted a hidden or concealed danger. As in the case at bar, the child in Allen drowned in the pond. The combination of what attracted him, the sand plus the concealed danger (steep slopes), killed him. The court did not separate the two. Significantly, the court did not say recovery would not lie because the child was attracted by the benign white sand rather than the hidden steep slopes.

Ansin v. Thurston, 98 So.2d 87 (Fla. 3d DCA 1957), cert. denied, 101 So.2d 808 (Fla.1958), followed Allen. In Ansin, a child was lured onto the property by banks of white sand surrounding a pit filled with water. The child evidently found a raft at the end of a dock and drowned when it tipped over while he was playing on it. The concealed danger was the sudden and steep drop-off of the sides of the pit. The white sand of the artificial pond attracted him, but the concealed danger caused his drowning. The court did not deny recovery because the child was not attracted by the hidden, steep banks. See also Larnel Builders v. Martin, 105 So.2d 580 (Fla.3d DCA 1958), cert. dismissed, 110 So.2d 649 (Fla.1959).

Hendershot v. Kapok Tree Inn, Inc.,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Longmore v. SAGA BAY PROPERTY OWNERS ASS'N, INC.
868 So. 2d 1268 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2004)
Saga Bay Property Owners Ass'n v. Askew
513 So. 2d 691 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1987)
Walt Disney World Co. v. Goode
501 So. 2d 622 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1986)
In Re Estate of Starling
451 So. 2d 516 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
451 So. 2d 516, 1984 Fla. App. LEXIS 13001, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/starling-v-saha-fladistctapp-1984.