Tamiami Trail Tours v. Locke
Decision Date | 02 November 1954 |
Citation | 75 So.2d 586 |
Parties | TAMIAMI TRAIL TOURS, Inc., a Florida corporation, Appellant, v. Frank L. LOCKE, doing business as Acme Auto Service, Appellee. |
Court | Florida Supreme Court |
John A. Sutton and Frederick J. Ward, Orlando, for appellant.
Maguire, Voorhis & Wells, Orlando, for appellee.
The final judgment brought before us by the appellant herein, Tamiami Trail Tours, Inc., plaintiff below, reads as follows:
'This cause coming on for hearing this day on plaintiff's request for pretrial conference, and the attorneys for the plaintiff and defendant having stipulated the facts, based in part on the deposition of the defendant taken by plaintiff, of the case to be:
'Considered, ordered and adjudged that plaintiff take nothing by this suit and defendant go hence without day.'
The only question in this case is whether, on the stipulated facts, the trial court erred in holding the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur inapplicable. This in turn appears to depend wholly upon whether the offending instrumentalities were sufficiently within the control of the defendant, or whether the facts are such that it becomes unnecessary to prove control as in Yarbrough v. Ball U-Drive System, Fla., 48 So.2d 82, since it is clear that all of the other elements prerequisite to the application of the res ipsa doctrine are present.
We are of the opinion that the res ipsa doctrine applies here, and that the plaintiff was entitled to an appropriate jury instruction. It is true that plaintiff's driver was operating the tractor when it became uncoupled from the trailer, but since he 'got into the tractor at defendant's request and drove forward in a normal manner' and had been proceeding forward for only 'about 100 to 150 feet' when the trailer became uncoupled, the inference is inescapable that the damage was caused by a defect either in the coupling or the coupling process. The defendant, who was the 'owner and operator of a repair garage of automobile trucks' examined the whole coupling after the accident, but could find no defect in it, and the search for the cause of the accident, on the facts stipulated, must therefore be focused upon the coupling process, which was accomplished by the defendant at a time when the entire instrumentality was within his exclusive control. The driver, when the damage occurred, was following instructions of the defendant, who was engaged in the business of repairing trucks and was then and there performing activities incident thereto, and who held himself out as one proficient in such matters. Certainly the plaintiff's driver in this case, just as in the Yarbrough case, had 'a right to believe that the vehicle (would) not fall apart in the middle of the road'. We conclude that this case is controlled by the Yarbrough case, and the judgment appealed from must therefore be, and it is hereby, reversed and remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent herewith.
HOLT, J., concurs specially with opinion.
Appellant, Tamiami Trail Tours, Inc., brought this action for damages in the Circuit Court of the Ninth Judicial Circuit in and for Orange County. Final judgment was entered below for appellee, Frank L. Locke, doing business as Acme Auto Service.
An examination of the metamorphosis of res ipsa loquitur in Florida reveals that the formula established by this court as the test of applicability of the doctrine is arbitrary and therefore in need of a re-appraisal, to the end that a plaintiff in some instances is not given a burden of proving negligence on the part of the defendant by more than a preponderance of evidence. Foster v. Thornton, 113 Fla. 600, 152 So. 667; Breit v. Haas, 126 Fla. 835, 172 So. 697; American Dist. Electric Protective Co. v. Seaboard Air Line Ry. Co., 129 Fla. 518, 177 So. 294; Orr v. Avon Florida Citrus Corp., 130 Fla. 306, 177 So. 612; Reichenbach v. New Alamac Hotel Corp., 141 Fla. 797, 194 So. 250; Coaster Amusement Co. v. Smith, 141 Fla. 845, 194 So. 336; National Brands, Inc., v. Norton Tire Co., Inc., 150 Fla. 349, 7 So.2d 456; Hughs v. Miami Coca Cola Bottling Co., 155 Fla. 299, 19 So.2d 862; Johnson v. City of Jacksonville, 157 Fla. 14, 24 So.2d 717; Orme v. Burr, 157 Fla. 378, 25 So.2d 870; Starke Coca-Cola Bottling Co. v. Carrington, 159 Fla. 718, 32 So.2d 583; Groves v. Florida Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Fla., 40 So.2d 128; St. Petersburg Coca-Cola Bottling Co. v. Cuccinello, Fla., 44 So.2d 670; Henning v. Thompson, Fla., 45 So.2d 755; Yarbrough v. Ball-U-Drive System, Inc., Fla., 48 So.2d 82; West Coast Hospital Ass'n v. Webb, Fla., 52 So.2d 803; Schott v. Pancoast Properties, Fla., 57 So.2d 431; Frash v. Sarres, Fla., 60 So.2d 924; Tampa Transit Lines, Inc., v. Corbin, Fla., 62 So.2d 10; Goff v. City of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 65 So.2d 1; Miami Coca-Cola Bottling Co. v. Reisinger, Fla., 68 So.2d 589.
A fortiori, the need is clearly disclosed in light of this court's holdings in the exploding bottle cases, where the strict formula previously followed by this court has been extended. See Starke Coca-Cola Bottling Co. v. Carrington, and Groves v. Florida Coca-Cola Bottling Co., supra.
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