GLADYS LOFTIN, BY HER NEXT FRIEND WALTER LOFTIN, AND WALTER LOFTIN,
v.
FLORIDA CITIES BUS CO., A FLORIDA CORPORATION
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Plaintiffs Gladys and Walter Loftin sued Florida Cities Bus Co. for injuries sustained when Gladys, who was pregnant, was injured alighting from a bus after the driver failed to assist her and negligently started the bus while she was still on the steps. The Florida Supreme Court held that while some counts of the declaration were defective, counts five through eight stated a valid cause of action.
Counts one through four of the declaration were fatally defective and the demurrer was properly sustained as to them. However, counts five through eight contained sufficient allegations to state a cause of action, and the demurrer should have been overruled as to those counts. A common carrier transporting a passenger in an obviously delicate condition owes a duty of care commensurate with that condition, which may include personal assistance in boarding or alighting.
“When a common carrier assumes responsibility for transporting a passenger in an obviously delicate condition it is charged with the exercise of a degree of care commensurate with the condition of the passenger, to the end that it be transported and delivered to destination safely.”
Establishes the standard of care owed by a common carrier to a passenger in a delicate condition
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceGladys Loftin was a passenger on a bus operated by Florida Cities Bus Co. and was heavily pregnant (great with child) at the time of the accident. Whi…
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Gladys Loftin and Walter Loftin brought a common law action against Florida Cities Bus Co. to recover damages for personal injuries to the former and for loss of consortium, etc., as to Walter Loftin. A demurrer to the declaration was sustained, final judgment was entered in favor of the defendant and the plaintiffs appealed.
The sole question brought here for determination is the sufficiency of the declaration to state a cause of action.
The declaration was in eight counts. We are of the view that counts one, two, three and four were fatally defective and that, the demurrer was properly sustained as to them. As *515to counts five, six, seven and eight, we think the demurrer to the declaration should have been overruled.
At the time of the accident that resulted in the injury to Gladys Loftin, she was attempting to alight from a bus of the defendant. She had been transported to her destination and was “great with child.” After reciting the formal parts and alleging the obvious condition of the plaintiff, by reason of which she was handicapped in her power of movement, and was in need of assistance to alight from the bus, count five of the declaration alleges the following: “that as a proximate result of Defendant’s agent and driver of said bus negligently and carelessly failing to render assistance to your Plaintiff in descending said steps of said bus heretofore described, your Plaintiff attempted to descend said steps and before she had gotten off of the steps of said bus, the bus was negligently and carelessly suddenly started, throwing your Plaintiff into the street.”
Counts six, seven and eight contain similar allegations which when taken with the other allegations of counts five to eight inclusive, relieve them from the infirmity rendering counts one to four inclusive vulnerable to demurrer. The quoted allegations when read with other allegations sufficiently allege the relation of passenger and carrier and that defendant’s negligence contributed to the plaintiff’s injury. The allegations in other words are sufficient to present a triable issue.
When a common carrier assumes responsibility for transporting a passenger in an obviously delicate condition it is charged with the exercise of a degree of care commensurate with the condition of the passenger, to the end that it be transported and delivered to destination safely. Such a degree of care may require personal assistance in boarding or alighting from the bus or other vehicle. Certainly it contemplates safe instrumentalities in which to ride.
It follows that the judgment appealed from is affirmed as to counts one, two, three and four, but it is reversed as to counts five, six, seven and eight.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part.
THOMAS, C. J., CHAPMAN and SEBRING, JJ„ concur.
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Nazareth v. Herndon Ambulance Serv., Inc., 467 So. 2d 1076 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985)…ania, 252 Md. 647, 250 A. 2d 874 (1969). Once the undertaking to transport a passenger has begun, this extraordinary duty to the passenger arises, and does not terminate until the journey is complete. Henderson; Loftin v. Florida Cities Bus Company, 159 Fla. 514, 32 So. 2d 166 (1947). This is characterized in terms of tort liability as a non-delegable duty owed by the employer.6 These two causes of action, one in tort and one in contract, may coexist in an action against a carrier. See Banfield v. Addington…
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Swilley v. Econ. Cab Co. of Jacksonville, 46 So.2d 173 (Fla. 1950)…" it became the duty of the defendant to exercise a degree of care commensurate with the condition of the passenger to the end that the passenger would be transported and delivered to his destination safely. Compare Loftin v. Florida Cities Bus Co., 159 Fla. 514, 32 So. 2d 166. But this high degree of duty did not extend to the point of making the defendant an absolute insurer of the safety of its passenger; it did not require of the defendant that it place a guard over its passenger or deliver him to his d…1 / 2
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Edwards v. Jacksonville Coach Co., 88 So. 2d 543 (Fla. 1956)…n was not attacked, but it is difficult for us to understand how the discussion of the prevailing principle could have been affected by the lack of an assault on the declaration. The last case cited by appellant is Loftin v. Florida Cities Bus Co., 159 Fla. 514, 32 So. 2d 166, 167. It appears that the plaintiff in that case, who was pregnant, attempted to alight from a bus. Her condition was so obvious as to serve notice on the operator of the bus that she was in need of assistance. It was held that “[w]he…
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