Griffith v. Budget Rent-A-Car Systems, Inc., RENT-A-CAR

• Court: Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
• Writing for the Court: GREEN
• Citation: 692 So.2d 294
• Parties: 22 Fla. L. Weekly D1074 Lennox GRIFFITH, Appellant, v. BUDGETSYSTEMS, INC., a Delaware corporation, Appellee.
• Docket Number: RENT-A-CAR,No. 96-2162
• Decision Date: 30 April 1997

Page 294

692 So.2d 294 22 Fla. L. Weekly D1074 Lennox GRIFFITH, Appellant,
v.
BUDGET RENT-A-CAR SYSTEMS, INC., a Delaware corporation, Appellee. No. 96-2162. District Court of Appeal of Florida,
Third District. April 30, 1997.

Dunn & Johnson, P.A., Miami; Deutsch & Blumberg, P.A. and James C. Blecke, Miami, for appellant.

Richard A. Sherman, Ft. Lauderdale; Ligman, Martin & Evans, P.L. and Joseph W. Ligman, Coral Gables, for appellees.

Before LEVY, GERSTEN and GREEN, JJ.

GREEN, Judge.

Lennox Griffith appeals a final summary judgment finding that appellee, Budget Rent-A-Car Systems, Inc. was entitled to workers' compensation immunity to this action. We affirm.

Page 295

Griffith and his supervisor, Charles Stafford were returning home to Miami after a week long business related convention in Mississippi when they were involved in an automobile accident. At the time of the accident, Griffith and Stafford were traveling in a car rented from Budget at their employer's expense. Just prior to the accident, Stafford had driven Griffith home when Griffith suddenly remembered that his apartment keys had been left at their business office. Without unloading any of Griffith's luggage or belongings, Stafford proceeded to drive Griffith to their place of employment to retrieve Griffith's keys. While en route to the office, they were involved in an automobile accident causing serious personal injury to Griffith. Griffith thereafter received over $450,000 in workers' compensation benefits from his employer.

Griffith filed the action below against Budget alleging that it was vicariously liable for Stafford's negligent operation of Budget's vehicle under Florida's dangerous instrumentality doctrine. Budget moved for and was granted final summary judgment on its affirmative defense of workers' compensation immunity.

The law is well-settled, first of all, that when a dangerous instrumentality such as an automobile is leased to an employer, the lessor shares the employer's workers' compensation immunity from suit by the employee for personal injuries. Smith v. Ryder Truck Rentals, Inc., 182 So.2d 422, 424 (Fla.1966); Sherrill v. Corbett Cranes Servs., Inc., 656 So.2d 181, 183 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995); Morales v. Ryder Truck Rental, 559 So.2d 317, 318 (Fla. 3d DCA), rev. denied, 574 So.2d 142 (Fla.1990). Budget therefore would enjoy any workers' compensation immunity to which Griffith's employer is entitled. On this appeal, Griffith does not challenge this established principle but asserts that there is no workers' compensation immunity at all for his injuries because they were not sustained within the scope and course of his employment but were sustained while he was on a purely...