Gracie v. Deming
| Decision Date | 09 August 1968 |
| Docket Number | No. 67--495,67--495 |
| Citation | 213 So.2d 294 |
| Parties | Bruce Robert GRACIE, an infant, by his next friend, Jean A. Gracie, and Jean A. Gracie, individually, Appellants, v. Ingrid Freybe DEMING, an infant, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
C. Michael Jackson, of Stewart & Stewart, Fort Myers, for appellants.
James A. Franklin, Jr., of Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt, Fort Myers, for appellee.
Appellants brought suit against the appellees, Ingrid Freybe Deming, a minor female, and her father, Hans Freybe, alleging negligence and gross negligence on the part of Ingrid Freybe Deming, that resulted in an automobile accident and injuries to appellant Bruce Robert Gracie. In addition, the complaint alleged the vicarious liability of Hans Freybe for this negligence by virtue of Florida Statute § 322.09, F.S.A. Section 322.09 provides, first, that an application by a person under eighteen for a driver's license must be signed by the parents or guardian of the applicant, or some other responsible person, and second, that any negligence or willful misconduct on the part of the minor while operating a motor vehicle would be imputed to the person who signed his application.
Subsequent to the accident but before suit was brought, appellee Ingrid Freybe Deming was married. After suit was commenced her father filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action as to him on the theory that Florida Statutes § 743.03, F.S.A., automatically terminated his vicarious liability upon the marriage of his daughter. The lower court granted Freybe's motion and this appeal ensued.
We feel the trial judge erred in granting the motion to dismiss, and, therefore, reverse.
Although no cases exist on point, it seems clear that the intent of the legislature in promulgating § 322.09 was both to promote the public safety in the operation of motor vehicles and to fix a method of insuring the financial responsibility of minor drivers licensed to operate motor vehicles. See 1955 Op.Atty.Gen. 055--143; James, Imputed Negligence and Vicarious Liability: The Study of a Paradox, 10 U.Fla.L.Rev. 48, 51 (1957). This design is suggested by the language of the act providing that if the minor has no parent or guardian, he can secure a license only by obtaining the signature of his employer or some other responsible person willing to accept the obligation imposed. Florida Statutes § 322.09(1), F.S.A. Moreover, under Florida Statutes § 322.11, F.S.A., it is noteworthy that upon the death of the person signing a minor's application, the minor's license is cancelled, and cannot be reissued until a new application, containing the signature of another responsible person, is filed. It seems, therefore, that financial responsibility lies at the heart of the statute.
The point in issue concerns the effect of the marriage of a minor female on the financial responsibility provision of § 322.09. Section 743.03, F.S.A., reads as follows:
'The disabilities of nonage of all female minors who are married, who have been married, or who may hereafter become married, including those divorced or hereafter divorced, and those who are or who may hereafter become widows, are removed, and hereafter all such...
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...395 So.2d 540 (Fla.), superseded by statute as stated in Metropolitan Dade County v. Bridges, 402 So.2d 411 (Fla.1981); Gracie v. Deming, 213 So.2d 294 (Fla. 2d DCA 1968). Third, even with the liberal construction of Chapter 159 mandated by statute, sections 159.43 and 159.53, Fla.Stat. (19......
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Neel v. Neel, 70--954
...So.2d 217; Silver Sands of Pensacola Beach, Inc. v. Pensacola Loan and Savings Bank, Fla.App.1965, 1965, 174 So.2d 61; Gracie v. Deming, Fla.App.1968, 213 So.2d 294; City of Fort Lauderdale v. Taxi, Inc., supra. Any ambiguity in a statute must be resolved in the light of the foregoing princ......
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Ramos v. State
...our obligation to avoid a statutory construction which renders the provision in question "illogical or ineffective." Gracie v. Deming, 213 So.2d 294, 296 (Fla. 2d DCA 1968). In the light of what has now been revealed, I suggest that the interpretation of section 924.07(4) applied (without d......
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Bandy v. Duncan
...Assembly had any purpose ... other than [that found] in the language of the enactment." 140 N.E.2d at 37. See also Gracie v. Deming, 213 So.2d 294 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.) (marriage of a minor female defendant did not relieve her father of liability); McCants v. Chenault, 98 Ohio App. 529, 130 N.......