Worth v. Eugene Gentile Builders

744 So. 2d 1014, 1997 Fla. App. LEXIS 4943, 1997 WL 227436
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 7, 1997
DocketNos. 96-2032, 96-3436
StatusPublished

This text of 744 So. 2d 1014 (Worth v. Eugene Gentile Builders) 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
Worth v. Eugene Gentile Builders, 744 So. 2d 1014, 1997 Fla. App. LEXIS 4943, 1997 WL 227436 (Fla. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

SHAHOOD, Judge.

This is a premise liability action in which the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of appellee/defendant, Eugene Gentile Builders. We reverse.

Eugene Gentile Builders, a general contractor, was in the process of constructing several condominium units on the property of Palm Beach National Golf and Country Club, Inc. (“Palm Beach National”). Be[1015]*1015cause of past occurrences of vandalism on the construction site, Kerry Finn (“Finn”), the general manager at Palm Beach National, requested that the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office send an officer to the construction site to conduct surveillance. Although Finn notified the contractor that he planned to call the police regarding the vandalism, it is clear from the record that Eugene Gentile Builders did not know that an officer would be conducting surveillance at night inside an unfinished building on the site.

Appellant/plaintiff, John Worth (“Worth”), the officer sent to Palm Beach National, decided to surveil the property from inside the unfinished building. While walking around in the darkness familiarizing himself with the inside of the building, Worth fell into an unbarricaded elevator shaft and was injured. He filed suit against both Palm Beach National and Eugene Gentile Builders.

For premise liability purposes, the status of a police officer acting in his official capacity is addressed in section 112.182, Florida Statutes (1998), which provides as follows:

(1) A firefighter or properly identified law enforcement officer who lawfully enters upon the premises of another in the discharge of his or her duty occupies the status of an invitee. The common-law rule that such a firefighter or law enforcement officer occupies the status of a licensee is hereby abolished.
(2) It is not the intent of this section to increase or diminish the duty of care owed by property owners to invitees. Property owners shall be liable to invitees pursuant to this section only when the property owner negligently fails to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition or negligently fails to correct a dangerous condition of which the property owner either knew or should have known by the use of reasonable care or negligently fails to warn the invitee of a dangerous condition about which the property owner had, or should have had, knowledge greater than that of the invitee.

The trial court’s grant of summary judgment was based on an interpretation that the statute applies only to landowners and not to those who are in lawful possession. As such, although the trial court found that Worth was an invitee, pursuant to the statute, with regard to Palm Beach National, the court found that he was a trespasser with regard to Eugene Gentile Builders.

The unambiguous language of the statute does not support that “dual-status” theory. To the contrary, the statute states only that although police officers and firefighters shall henceforth be classified as invitees while acting in their official capacity on private property, there shall be no corresponding change to the landowner’s common law duty of care with respect to invitees. See Bennis v. State Chem. Mfg. Co., 682 So.2d 574, 577 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996)(the purpose of the rule was to permit individuals requiring assistance “to summon aid without pausing to consider whether they will be held liable for consequences which, in most cases, are beyond their control”); Potts v. Johnson, 654 So.2d 596, 598 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995)(§ 112.182, Fla.Stat.(1990) ’abolished the common law rule, the “firefighter rule,” that firefighters and police officers upon the land of another while carrying out their official duties occupied the status of a mere licensee.) We reject the argument that subsection two somehow diminishes the effect of subsection one and makes the statute applicable only to landowners.

Thus, the common law duties owed to invitees by landowners and those lawfully possessing property remain intact. The law is clear that more than one party may have a duty to persons who enter the premises. Craig v. Gate Maritime Properties, Inc., 631 So.2d 375 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). In addition, the fact that more than one person is under a duty and one fails to [1016]*1016perform is no defense to one who has assumed control. Id. at 377-78 (citing Arias v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 426 So.2d 1136, 1138 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); Levy v. Home Depot, Inc., 518 So.2d 941 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987)(commercial tenant may possess duty concurrent with landlord to maintain premises in reasonably safe condition); Bovis v. 7-Eleven, Inc., 505 So.2d 661 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987)(commercial tenant had a duty to maintain the premises in reasonably safe condition despite the fact that the landlord had contractually agreed to maintain the premises)). Although a landowner will not be responsible for injuries caused solely by the lessee’s actions, the owner may be liable to a third party if, under the terms of the lease, he retains responsibility for maintenance and inspection, or where the owner retains a possessory interest in the property. Bovis, 505 So.2d at 664. Thus, it is not ownership of the property which determines the duty of care, but rather,

the failure of a person who is in actual possession and control (be it the owner, an agent, a lessee, a construction contractor, or other possessor with authority or control), to use due care to warn or to exclude, licensees and invitees from areas known to the possessor to be dangerous because of operations or activities or conditions.

Haynes v. Lloyd, 533 So.2d 944, 946 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988).

Contractors may also share responsibility for injuries caused on or around a construction site even though, as in the instant case, the landowner retains some possession and control of the premises. See Cockerham v. R.E. Vaughan, Inc., 82 So.2d 890 (Fla.1955); Carter v. Livesay Window Co., Inc., 73 So.2d 411 (Fla.1954); compare Slavin v. Kay, 108 So.2d 462, 467 (Fla.1958)(so long as the premises are under the contractor’s control, he has a “duty to the whole world” to exercise due care; however, with regard to patent defects, contractors are not liable to third parties for injuries caused after the work has been turned over to the owner).

In Carter, a sub-contractor was found to be liable for the death of a child, which resulted from the contractor’s failure to properly secure or brace certain window frames. The court held that neither the child’s status as a trespasser nor whether the window frames attracted the child was material. Id. at 413. The court held that the test to be applied in these cases is

whether a reasonably prudent person should have anticipated the presence of children or other persons at the place where the [contractor] created a condition that a jury could find was an “inherently dangerous condition” or a “dangerous instrumentality” like unto an explosive substance, an inflammable material, a live wire or a spring gun.

Id. (citations omitted)(emphasis added).

One year later, in Cockerham, the supreme court imposed liability on a contractor for injuries sustained when a child fell into a hole dug by the contractor.

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Related

Marks v. Delcastillo
386 So. 2d 1259 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1980)
Haynes v. Lloyd
533 So. 2d 944 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1988)
Bennis v. STATE CHEMICAL MFG. CO.
682 So. 2d 574 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1996)
Arias v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co.
426 So. 2d 1136 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1983)
Slavin v. Kay
108 So. 2d 462 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1959)
Potts v. Johnson
654 So. 2d 596 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1995)
Cockerham v. RE Vaughan, Inc.
82 So. 2d 890 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1955)
Bovis v. 7-Eleven, Inc.
505 So. 2d 661 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1987)
Craig v. Gate Maritime Properties, Inc.
631 So. 2d 375 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1994)
Carter v. Livesay Window Co.
73 So. 2d 411 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1954)
Levy v. Home Depot, Inc.
518 So. 2d 941 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
744 So. 2d 1014, 1997 Fla. App. LEXIS 4943, 1997 WL 227436, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/worth-v-eugene-gentile-builders-fladistctapp-1997.