L. C. GANDY AND LEATHER GANDY, APPELLANT,
v.
E. R. OUTLAW, ET AL., APPELLEES

Fla. 5th DCA | 1982-08-11
No. 81-1328
SHARP and COWART, JJ., concur.
417 So. 2d 1134 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1982) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The court held that unforeseeable loss of consciousness while driving is a complete defense to negligence.


Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiffs sued for losses after defendant's vehicle rear-ended theirs, stipulating defendant lost consciousness unforeseeably before impact. The tria…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
FRANK D. UPCHURCH, Jr., Judge.

FRANK D. UPCHURCH, Jr., Judge.

The Gandys filed suit against E. R. Outlaw and her insurance carrier seeking to recover for losses sustained when Mrs. Outlaw’s vehicle rear-ended Gandy’s vehicle. Both sides stipulated that Mrs. Outlaw lost consciousness immediately prior to the impact and that such loss of consciousness was unforeseeable. The trial court entered summary judgment in favor of Mrs. Outlaw and her insurance carrier. We affirm.

Under Baker v. Hausman, 68 So. 2d 572 (Fla.1953), and its progeny, the unforeseeable loss of consciousness while driving is a complete defense to the charge of negligence and gross negligence. While acknowledging that the trial court’s entry of a final summary judgment was proper under Baker, the Gandys nevertheless assert that liability should be placed upon Mrs. Outlaw claiming that she was the “least innocent” of two innocent parties. The Gandys have requested this court to revisit the existing law and either reverse the lower tribunal’s ruling or certify the issue as one of great public importance.1

We are not disposed to reverse the trial court. See Hoffman v. Jones, 280 So. 2d 431 (Fla.1973). Further, we do not believe the question is one of great public importance and therefore decline to certify it as requested. While we have great sympathy for the Gandys, we cannot conclude there is any reason to change a rational rule of law. If Mrs. Outlaw could not anticipate, foresee, or prevent the accident, we can urge no reason to impose liability upon her. As the supreme court observed in Bridges v. Speer, 79 So. 2d 679 (Fla.1955):

It is not even simple negligence if one has a sudden attack, loses control of his car and causes an accident if he had no premonition or warning. In such event the very foundation of negligence — knowledge and hence foreseeability — is absent. (emphasis added)

AFFIRMED.

SHARP and COWART, JJ., concur. . Fla.R.App.P. 9.125.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Wingate v. United Servs. Auto. Ass'n & Linda J. Russell, 480 So. 2d 665 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985)
    …e affirm. It is well established that the unforeseeable loss of consciousness while driving is a complete defense to the charge of negligence. Bridges v. Speer, 79 So. 2d 679 (Fla.1955); Baker v. Hausman, 68 So. 2d 572 (Fla.1953); Gandy v. Outlaw, 417 So. 2d 1134 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982); Annot. 93 A.L.R.3d 326 (1979). Appellees presented several affidavits, both from physicians and lay people, which indicated that the decedent had no reason to expect that he would suffer the heart attack that caused him to lose…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw