Kaufman v. City of Tallahassee
| Decision Date | 01 December 1922 |
| Citation | 94 So. 697,84 Fla. 634 |
| Parties | KAUFMAN v. CITY OF TALLAHASSEE. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied Jan. 10, 1923.
Error to Circuit Court, Leon County; E. C. Love, Judge.
Action by H. R. Kaufman against the City of Tallahassee. From an order sustaining a demurrer to the declaration, plaintiff brings error.
Reversed.
Syllabus by the Court
Legal status defined. A municipality may be a public agency of the state, but in some of its activities it is possessed of local franchises and rights which pertain to it as a legal personality or entity for its quasi private corporate advantage.
Commission manager plan rests upon idea that city quasi public corporation, more in nature of business than government. The plan of municipal government known as commission manager or city manager plan rests upon the idea that a city is merely a large quasi public corporation whose activities partake more of the nature of a business than a government.
Muniicipality held liable for injuries by negligently operated fire truck. The maintenance and operation by a city, under the commission form of government, of a fire truck which is so constructed and set up, or so carelessly and negligently operated, that when taken upon the streets is a menace to the safety of pedestrians upon the sidewalks near corners of streets around which the truck and apparatus may be driven, is a violation of duty which the city owes to pedestrians upon the streets and it is liable in damages for any injury inflicted upon such pedestrians by reason of the careless and negligent handling by the city's employees of such truck and apparatus.
W. C. Hodges and Fred H. Davis, both of Tallahassee, for plaintiff in error.
Myers & Myers, of Tallahassee, for defendant in error.
H. R Kaufman, on the 26th day of April, 1919, while walking along the sidewalk of Monroe street near Jefferson street, was knocked down and severely bruised by a cart and its appurtenances, called a trailer, which was attached to one of the fire trucks owned and operated by the city. The trailer was so constructed and attached to the fire truck that, when the operator of the two vehicles turned a corner, the trailer with its apparatus would sweep over and across the adjacent sidewalks, subjecting pedestrians who were near the corner upon the sidewalk to the danger of being struck and injured thereby.
Kaufman brought an action against the city to recover damages for his injuries, and alleged that the city knew of the dangerous character of the device, but unlawfully, willfully, and knowingly permitted it to exist, and failed and refused to abate the nuisance. It was alleged that the trailer, with its appurtenances attached in the manner stated to a fire truck, was kept by the city as a part of its fire fighting apparatus. It is not alleged that the injury was committed while the vehicles were out upon the street in response to a call to a fire.
A demurrer to the declaration was sustained, and judgment entered upon the demurrer against the plaintiff, who took a writ of error.
The declaration alleges a state of facts which, if true, amounts to a nuisance willfully permitted by the city authorities to exist and which was maintained and operated by them, although it was a menace to citizens and others who happened to be on street corners in proximity to the passing vehicle, and as a result of the maintenance of such nuisance the plaintiff was injured.
The defense is that, as the vehicle is part of the fire fighting apparatus of the city, its use and operation is a governmental function for which the city cannot be held liable in case injury results to a person on the sidewalk where he may have a right to be; that is, for the tort alleged in the declaration.
The government of the city of Tallahassee is of that character known as the 'commission manager plan' or 'city manager plan.' It was created by chapter 8374, Special Laws of Florida 1919, and ratified by a vote of the electors of the city.
The commission form of municipal government, while it is generally held by the courts to be valid, is said to be founded upon the idea that the administration of the affairs of a great city is more nearly analogous to the conduct of a business than to the government of a sovereign state. That the necessity for some such method for...
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Hoggard v. Richmond
...without a vigorous dissent from Judge Wanamaker, who participated in both decisions. The Florida court, in Kaufman Tallahassee, 84 Fla. 634, 94 So. 697, 30 A.L.R. 471, adopted the principles stated by the Ohio court in the Fowler Case, and still adheres to these principles. See City of Tall......
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State Ex Rel. Gibbs v. Couch
... ... B. Couch and others, ... challenging the authority of the City Commissioners of the ... City of Daytona Beach to continue to hold office after the ... enactment ... Gen., H. E. Carter, Asst ... Atty. Gen., C. L. Waller, of Tallahassee, and Philip D ... Beall, of Pensacola, for relator ... B. F ... Brass and Green & ... entities, established for local governmental purposes, and in ... one case, Kaufman v. City of Tallahassee, 84 Fla ... 634, 94 So. 697, 30 A.L.R. 471, it was said: ... '* ... ...
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Hoggard v. City Of Richmond.*
...without a vigorous dissent from Judge Wanamaker, who participated in both decisions. The Florida court, in Kaufman v. Tallahassee, 84 Fla. 634, 94 So. 697, 30 A.L.R. 471, adopted the principles stated by the Ohio court in the Fowler Case, and still adheres to these principles. See City of T......
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Clouse ex rel. Clouse v. State
...states, were unnecessary and formed only for the "advantage and convenience" of their residents. Id. (citing Kaufman v. City of Tallahassee, 84 Fla. 634, 94 So. 697 (1922)). ¶ 74 But, as the Jones court noted, there was "utmost confusion" about what was governmental and what proprietary. Id......