Quinnelly v. Southern Maid Syrup Co., 4083

• Decision Date: 15 April 1964
• Docket Number: No. 4083,4083
• Citation: 164 So.2d 240
• Parties: Robert T. QUINNELLY, Appellant, v. SOUTHERN MAID SYRUP COMPANY, Inc., a Florida corporation, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 240

164 So.2d 240

Robert T. QUINNELLY, Appellant, v. SOUTHERN MAID SYRUP COMPANY, Inc., a Florida corporation, Appellee.

No. 4083.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

April 15, 1964.

Rehearing Denied June 3, 1964.

Miller, Cone, Owen, Wagner & Nugent, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Fowler, White, Gillen, Humkey & Trenam, Miami, for appellee.

McDONALD, PARKER LEE, Associate Judge.

This is an appeal from a final judgment in favor of the Defendant, Southern Maid Syrup Company, Inc., a Florida Corporation, and against the Plaintiff, Robert T. Quinnelly, entered after the Court granted the Defendant's motion to dismiss the Second Amended Complaint for failure to state a cause of action. The only assignment of error directed to this Court is the dismissal of the Second Amended Complaint and entry of final judgment as a consequence thereof.

The pertinent portions of the Second Amended Complaint were as follows:

'1. That at all times material hereto the Defendant, Southern Maid Syrup Company, Inc., was owner and/or possessor in control of about five acres of land in or near Lake Harbor, Palm Beach County, Florida, on which it was, on October 4, 1961, building a syrup mill and during the construction of said syrup mill, the aforesaid defendant was an owner doing its own construction of said syrup mill on the premises aforesaid.

'2. That on or about October 4, 1961, at about 4:00 P.M., the plaintiff, ROBERT T. QUINNELLY, while in the employ of Industrial Equipment Company, Inc., as a boiler maker, while acting within the scope of his employment with the aforesaid employer, was, pursuant to contract between the defendant, SOUTHERN MAID SYRUP COMPANY, INC., and Industrial Equipment Company, Inc., which was an independent contractor, lawfully working upon the aforementioned construction site and premises.

'3. That at all times material hereto the defendant, SOUTHERN MAID SYRUP COMPANY, INC., had a nondelegable duty to provide a safe place to work for the plaintiff, ROBERT T. QUINNELLY, an invitee, and did negligently and carelessly fail to provide the plaintiff, ROBERT T. QUINNELLY, an invitee, with a safe place to work, by having the Florida Power & Light Company put up wires containing high voltage electricity in the area where the work was being done and having the said Florida Power and Light Company energize said wires when no electricity was being taken off said wires and there was no necessity for the wires to be energized, and the defendant, SOUTHERN MAID SYRUP COMPANY, INC., was further negligent in the following particulars:

'(a) Failing to have the said energized high tension wires in the proximity where the truck-crane and the plaintiff were working de-energized so as to provide the plaintiff with a safe place to work;

'(b) Failing to fulfill the non-delegable duty of warning the plaintiff, and the operator of the truck-crane which came against the energized wires that the said wires were energized;

'(c) Failing to properly supervise and inspect the work being done at the scene where the injury to the plaintiff occurred and to observe the conditions there existing so as to make provisions for providing plaintiff with a safe place to work by warning him of the dangers there existent or de-energizing the wires on the Florida Power & Light Company poles which were placed there at the insistence of the defendant, SOUTHERN MAID SYRUP COMPANY, INC.

'4. That while working on the aforementioned job site on October 4, 1961, the plaintiff, ROBERT T. QUINNELLY, when near a truckcrane which, unknown to said plaintiff, was situated with its boom against the energized wires containing high voltage electricity on Florida Power & Light Company poles, received serious electrical burns and shock due to...