Leib v. City of Tampa, 75--177
| Decision Date | 30 January 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 75--177,75--177 |
| Parties | Harriet W. LEIB, as the duly appointed Administratrix of the Estate of Lester Leib, Deceased, Appellant, v. CITY OF TAMPA, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Arnold D. Levine and Rick B. Levinson, of Levine, Freedman & Hirsch, Tampa, for appellant.
William T. Keen, Tampa, for appellee.
Appellant/plaintiff contends the trial court erred in awarding the defendant/appellee a summary judgment upon finding the design of an intersection maintained by the City of Tampa was not in any way a proximate cause of an accident which occurred involving the plaintiff's decedent, Lester Leib. We agree with the plaintiff and we reverse.
Brorein Street runs east and west and intersects with Franklin Street which runs north and south in downtown Tampa. The intersection is controlled by appropriate traffic signals. Brorein Street to the west of Franklin Street is offset to the south so that vehicles proceeding easterly on Brorein must veer left to continue on course through the intersection; otherwise, such traffic risks running into those vehicles headed north on Franklin but stopped there for the red traffic signal.
On December 28, 1972, the plaintiff's decedent Leib, while driving north on Franklin Street had stopped his car for the red signal light. Although his automobile was stopped behind the stop bar painted on the street, it nevertheless protruded into the eastbound lane of Brorein Street. At that time an automobile being driven east on Brorein by Glenn Ellis Shell came through the intersection at a very high rate of speed. Shell failed to veer to the left and crashed into Leib's vehicle, killing both himself and Leib.
In this action the plaintiff alleged the defendant City was negligent in failing to properly warn motorists on Franklin Street to stop their vehicles in such a position so as not to allow them to protrude into the path of Brorein Street. Plaintiff's further allegations likewise proceeded on the theory the defendant City was negligent in other aspects of its design, construction and maintenance of the street.
The trial court entered a summary judgment for the defendant, finding:
In view of the fact that one eyewitness to this accident places the speed of the car that crashed into the Leib vehicle at between 80 and 90 miles per hour and a second eyewitness placed the speed of the same automobile at definitely over 60 miles per hour and it being uncontroverted that the intersection where this accident occurred is in downtown Tampa, this Court finds as a matter of law that the sole proximate cause of this accident was the grossly negligent operation of the Rambler automobile by deceased, Glenn Ellis Shell, and that the design of the intersection in question was not in any way a proximate cause of the happening of this accident.
Affidavits were filed by the plaintiff in opposition to the defendant's motion for summary judgment and included: (1) a photo of the intersection showing that an automobile headed north on Franklin and stopped for the red light behind the stop bar would protrude into the path of the traffic lanes on Brorein; and (2) statement of a consulting engineer and traffic planner...
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