Williams v. Davis

• Decision Date: 21 November 2007
• Docket Number: No. SC05-1817.,SC05-1817.
• Citation: 974 So.2d 1052
• Parties: Beverly WILLIAMS, Petitioner, v. Cecelia DAVIS, et al., Respondents.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

974 So.2d 1052

Beverly WILLIAMS, Petitioner, v. Cecelia DAVIS, et al., Respondents.

No. SC05-1817.

Supreme Court of Florida.

November 21, 2007.

Jack W. Shaw, Jr., Winter Park, FL, for Petitioner.

Diran V. Seropian of Peterson Barnard, West Palm Beach, FL, Edna L. Caruso, West Palm Beach, FL, and Charles E. Emanuel of Gary, Williams, Parenti, Finney, Lewis, McManus, Watson and Sperando, Stuart, FL, for Respondents.

ANSTEAD, J.

We have for review a decision of the Fifth District Court of Appeal posing a question which the court certified to be of great public importance:

DOES THE FORESEEABLE ZONE OF RISK ANALYSIS ESTABLISHED IN MCCAIN [V. FLORIDA POWER CORP., 593 So.2d 500 (Fla.1992),] APPLY TO PRIVATE OWNERS OF NON-COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONTAINING FOLIAGE THAT BLOCKS MOTORISTS' VIEW OF AN ADJACENT INTERSECTION AND CAUSES AN ACCIDENT WITH RESULTING INJURIES?

Davis v. Dollar Rent A Car Sys., Inc., 909 So.2d 297, 305 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004). We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. For purposes of our review we reword the question certified:

DOES THE FORESEEABLE ZONE OF RISK ANALYSIS ESTABLISHED IN MCCAIN V. FLORIDA POWER CORP., 593 So.2d 500 (Fla.1992), APPLY TO PRIVATE OWNERS OF RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY CONTAINING FOLIAGE THAT DOES NOT EXTEND INTO THE PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY SO AS TO CREATE A DUTY BY THE LANDOWNER TO ADJACENT MOTORISTS?

We answer the reworded certified question in the negative and hold that while the McCain foreseeable zone of risk analysis applies, we conclude that under that analysis owners of private property do not owe a duty to motorists on abutting roadways as to the maintenance of foliage located wholly within the bounds of the property. We do recognize, however, that all property owners owe a duty, under a McCain analysis, not to permit the growth of foliage on their property to extend outside the bounds of the property and into the public right-of-way so as to interfere with a motorist's ability to safely travel on the adjacent roadway.

Circumstances of This Case

The facts and history of the case are set out in the district court's opinion in Davis. Twanda Green, an employee of Diamond Transportation Services, Inc., was involved in a vehicular accident in Orlando while transporting vehicles in a procession from one rental car location to another. Davis, 909 So.2d at 299. Green, the driver of the fifth of six vehicles, was traveling west on Pine Street as it formed a "T" intersection with Sidney Hayes Road. As she approached, she faced a yield sign at the end of Pine Street. She was in the process of making a left-hand turn onto Sidney Hayes Road when she was struck by a dump truck approaching the intersection of Sidney Hayes Road and Pine Street. Green died from the injuries caused by the collision. Id. As personal representative of Green's estate, respondent Cecelia Davis brought this action against several defendants, including Beverly Williams, who owns residential property abutting the intersection. Id. Davis claimed that foliage on the property obstructed Green's view of other traffic as she approached the intersection. Id.

In response to this action, Williams served Davis with a request for admission asking Davis to admit or deny that Williams owed or assumed a duty of care to drivers on the abutting roadway approaching the intersection. Id. Davis did not timely respond, so the trial court entered summary judgment, concluding that Williams owed Davis no duty of care. Id. On appeal, the Fifth District reversed, finding both that Davis's failure to timely respond did not bar suit because the request for admission concerned a conclusion of law rather than an issue of fact, and that under a McCain negligence analysis, Williams owed Davis and other motorists a duty of care to maintain the foliage on the property so as not to restrict the visibility of motorists at the intersection. Id. at 304-05.¹

While the district court opinion refers to "overgrown foliage" and "obstructing foliage," id. at 303-04, 313, we find no indication in the record or in the briefs of the parties that Davis is claiming that the foliage on Williams' property actually extended outside the bounds of the property or into the right-of-way. Because that factual issue is critical to our analysis, we are assuming there is no claim of intrusion into the public right-of-way. However, that issue's resolution will be left to further proceedings below. As noted by the district court, because this case is on review of the grant of a summary judgment, any doubts on this issue must be resolved in favor of Davis. See Davis, 909 So.2d at 304.

Negligence

We examine the existence of a common law duty based upon principles of negligence set forth in our case law as applied to the circumstances alleged in the complaint in this case. In McCain and other decisions, we have held that a claim of negligence requires the establishment of four elements in order for a claimant to prevail. The claimant must first demonstrate that the defendant owed a "duty, or obligation, recognized by the law, requiring the [defendant] to conform to a certain standard of conduct, for the protection of others against unreasonable risks." Clay Elec. Coop., Inc. v. Johnson, 873 So.2d 1182, 1185 (Fla.2003) (quoting Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts § 30, at 164 (W. Page Keeton et al. eds., 5th ed.1984)). Second, the claimant must establish that the defendant failed to conform to that duty. Id. Third, there must be "[a] reasonably close causal connection between the [nonconforming] conduct and the resulting injury" to the claimant. Id. Fourth, the claimant must demonstrate some actual harm. Id.

Florida tort law has long recognized an entirely distinct set of rules as to the duties owed by a landowner to those who come upon the property, and the law has recognized limited, if any, duties owed by a landowner to those who do not come on the property. See Wood v. Camp, 284 So.2d 691, 695 (Fla.1973); Post v. Lunney, 261 So.2d 146, 147-48 (Fla.1972); Barrio v. City of Miami Beach, 698 So.2d 1241, 1243 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997); McCray v. Myers, 614 So.2d 587, 588-90 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993). At issue is whether we should extend the McCain negligence analysis to apply to the circumstances presented herein and establish a duty on the part of the residential landowner to adjacent motorists.

McCain and the Foreseeable Zone of Risk Test

We explained in McCain that duty ordinarily arises from four general sources: "(1) legislative enactments or administration regulations; (2) judicial interpretations of such enactments or regulations; (3) other judicial precedent; and (4) a duty arising from the general facts of the case." McCain, 593 So.2d at 503 n. 2 (citing Restatement (Second) of Torts § 285 (1965)).

We further explained that the determination of the existence of a common law duty flowing from the general facts of the case under our negligence law depends upon an evaluation of the concept of foreseeability of harm. Id. at 503. We held that where a person's conduct is such that it creates a "foreseeable zone of risk" posing a general threat of harm to others, a legal duty will ordinarily be recognized to ensure that the underlying threatening conduct is carried out reasonably. Id. at 502-03.² As noted by the district court in Davis, 909 So.2d at 311 & n. 1, we have applied the McCain analysis to a countless variety of factual circumstances in order to determine the existence of a duty under our negligence law.³

Prior Rejection of Agrarian Rule of No Liability

In Whitt v. Silverman, 788 So.2d 210 (Fla.2001), we considered factual circumstances somewhat similar to those before us today, although involving commercial, rather than residential property. See id. at 212. We explained that before our McCain decision, Florida courts had followed the common law "agrarian rule" to determine whether a duty exists by landowners to motorists or others passing on a neighboring highway. Whitt, 788 So.2d at 213-14, 216. Under the strict agrarian rule, a landowner could never be held liable for harm occurring to motorists on adjacent roadways as a result of natural conditions on the land regardless of any alleged neglect of the landowner. See, e.g., Whitt, 788 So.2d at 213; Restatement (Second) of Torts § 363(1) (1965); Keeton et al., supra, § 57, at 390.⁴

In Whitt, we rejected application of the absolute no-liability agrarian rule in considering whether a commercial landowner in an urban setting owed a duty to motorists and pedestrians who might be harmed by conditions on the property. Instead, we applied the "zone of risk" foreseeability analysis articulated in McCain: "[W]e conclude that under our analysis in McCain, the landowners' conduct here created a foreseeable zone of risk posing a general threat of harm toward the patrons of the business as well as those pedestrians and motorists using the abutting streets and sidewalks...." Whitt, 788 So.2d at 222. Importantly, we noted that our reliance on the McCain foreseeability test was appropriate because we had intended McCain to function "as a restatement of the law of negligence." Whitt, 788 So.2d at 218.

As is properly pointed out in both the majority and dissenting opinions below, the facts in Whitt are not identical to the facts herein. See Davis, 909 So.2d at 310-11 (majority opinion on rehearing); Davis, 909 So.2d at 307-09 (Griffin, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). The property at issue in Whitt was a service station in Miami Beach, an urban commercial property subject to high-volume traffic. 788 So.2d at 213, 222. The plaintiffs in Whitt claimed that foliage located on the service station property impaired the visibility of the adjacent sidewalk and roadway and thereby caused an exiting motorist to fail to see two pedestrians whom the motorist struck and killed. Id. at 212-13. This Court was therefore faced with deciding whether a duty existed between the owners of the service station and...