Adika v. Beekman Towers, Inc., 93-207
| Decision Date | 22 March 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-207,93-207 |
| Parties | 19 Fla. L. Weekly D657 Mordechai ADIKA, etc., Appellant, v. BEEKMAN TOWERS, INC., Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
George, Hartz, Lundeen, Flagg & Fulmer and Esther E. Galicia, Coral Gables, for appellant.
Parenti, Falk, Waas & Frazier and Gail Leverett, Miami, for appellee.
Before NESBITT, JORGENSON and GODERICH, JJ.
Mordechai Adika, Personal Representative of the Estate of Shabtai Adika, appeals from an order of summary judgment in favor of Beekman Towers, Inc. We affirm.
Shabtai Adika was a paying guest at a hotel owned and operated by Beekman Towers. While a guest at the hotel, Adika regularly swam off the public beach adjacent to the hotel. On July 23, 1989, Adika drowned while swimming in the ocean. Although the record is not entirely clear on this point, it appears that the decedent was swept up in a riptide and carried away from shore.
The beach that Adika frequented is controlled by the Town of Surfside which operated a lifeguard post about two city blocks from the drowning site. Surfside's post was the closest lifeguard position; Beekman Towers did not post lifeguards on the public beach. Beekman Towers also did not post any signs warning its guests of dangerous surf conditions. However, on the day Adika drowned, the hotel's pool attendant had warned him that the water was rough and that he should not swim alone.
Adika's estate filed a wrongful death action against Beekman Towers alleging that it breached a duty owed to Adika by failing to provide lifeguards on the beach and by failing to post signs warning of the dangerous surf conditions. 1 Beekman Towers moved for summary judgment on the ground that its duty to exercise reasonable care for its guests did not extend to the public beach. The trial court granted the motion; Adika appeals.
An innkeeper in Florida has no duty to post a lifeguard on a public beach. In fact, this court has held that a hotel has no duty even to post a lifeguard at its own swimming pool. Frost v. Newport Motel, Inc., 516 So.2d 16 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987), rev. denied, 525 So.2d 878 (Fla.1988); see also Hemispheres Condominium Ass'n v. Corbin, 357 So.2d 1074 (Fla. 3d DCA) (), cert. denied, 364 So.2d 883 (Fla.1978). The Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 314A (1965) recognizes that an innkeeper has a special relationship with his guests which gives rise to a duty to protect them against unreasonable risk of physical harm. Florida courts have similarly held. See, e.g., Orlando Executive Park, Inc. v. Robbins, 433 So.2d 491 (Fla.1983) (); Fennema v. Howard Johnson Co., 559 So.2d 1231 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990) (same). However, this duty is not unlimited; the Restatement notes that the duty only applies when the risk of harm arises in the course of the special relationship. More germane to the instant case, the Restatement expressly provides: "... nor is an innkeeper under a duty to a guest who is injured or endangered while he is away from the premises." Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 314A cmt. c (1965).
Likewise, an innkeeper in Florida has no duty to warn its guests of naturally occurring surf conditions off of a public beach. See Seitz v. Surfside, Inc., 517 So.2d 49 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987), rev. denied, 525 So.2d 880 (Fla.1988). Even if Beekman Towers did have such a duty, it was satisfied by the pool attendant's warning to Adika that he should not swim alone in the rough surf.
In support of his argument that the hotel had a duty to post a lifeguard and warn of dangerous surf conditions, Adika relies upon McKinney v. Adams, 68 Fla. 208, 66 So. 988 (1914). In McKinney, the Florida Supreme Court held that the operator of a seaside...
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