WALT DISNEY WORLD CO., APPELLANT,
v.
JOHN R. BEATTIE, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1983-02-09
No. 81-1199
DAUKSCH and COWART, JJ., concur.
428 So. 2d 693 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1983) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 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.

Synopsis

Walt Disney World Company appeals a jury verdict in favor of a plaintiff who was struck by a Disney-operated boat while swimming in Bay Lake at River Country. The appellate court affirmed the judgment, holding that the case involved active negligence by Disney's employee rather than premises liability, making the plaintiff's trespasser status irrelevant to liability.


Holding

Disney is liable under ordinary negligence principles because the injury resulted from the active negligence of Disney's employee in operating the boat at excessive speed without proper lookout, not from a defective condition of the premises. The plaintiff's status on the property is irrelevant when liability is based on active negligence rather than a dangerous condition of the premises.


Headnotes

[1] A landowner's duty to persons injured by the active negligence of the landowner is governed by the standard of ordinary negligence, irrespective of the injured person's s…

[2] The status of an injured person on a landowner's property is relevant only when liability is predicated on an alleged defect or dangerous condition of the premises.

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Key Quotes

“this is not a premises liability case because there is no evidence whatever to indicate that plaintiff was injured by or because of a defective condition in the Disney premises”

Establishes that the case involves active negligence, not premises liability

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Facts & Procedural History

On August 16, 1979, plaintiff and teenage friends visited River Country, a water amusement area at Walt Disney World. After swimming in a designated a…

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Opinion of the Court
ORFINGER, Chief Judge.

ORFINGER, Chief Judge.

Defendant, Walt Disney World Company (Disney), appeals from a final judgment following a jury verdict for plaintiff in a personal injury suit. We affirm.

. Plaintiff and several of his teenage friends were patrons of Disney’s River Country on August 16, 1979. River Country is a water oriented amusement area in Walt Disney World. The young men arrived there at about 6:00 in the afternoon. After swimming for awhile in a designated area, they left that area and walked along a nature trail which runs around a portion of Bay Lake.1 At approximately 9:00 P.M., about six or eight of the young men decided to climb the rail fence separating the walkway from the lake and swim the several hundred yards to Discovery Island. As they swam across the lake, the plaintiff was struck by a boat and injured.

Although in conflict, there was competent evidence presented to sustain a finding that the boat was owned by Disney and operated by a Disney employee in the course of his employment; that although late, it was not quite dark at that time and that light from both River Country and Discovery Island helped light the area; that the boat was operated at an excessive rate of speed and that the operator saw or should have seen the boys in the water, all of whom were yelling, splashing and waving their arms to signal their presence to the boat operator. In other words, there was evidence to sustain the conclusion that the employee’s negligence in the operation of the boat was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury.

The parties devote much of their argument to questions relating to the status of plaintiff upon the Disney property, i.e., whether invitee, uninvited licensee or trespasser, because in a premises liability case, the status of the injured person is important in defining the landowner’s duty towards that person. Appellant contends that appellee was a trespasser in the lake, or at best an uninvited licensee. Appellee contends that he was an invitee. See Wood v. Camp, 284 So. 2d 691 (Fla.1973). However, this is not a premises liability case because there is no evidence whatever to indicate that plaintiff was injured by or because of a defective condition in the Disney premises.

Under these circumstances, the plaintiff’s status on the property is not relevant. Only when liability is predicated on an alleged defect or dangerous condition of the premises is the injured person’s status relevant. Wood v. Camp, 284 So. 2d 691 (Fla.1973). The standard of ordinary negligence governs the liability of a landowner to persons injured upon the property by the active negligence of the landowner. Maldonado v. Jack M. Berry Grove Corp., 351 So. 2d 967 (Fla.1977); Hix v. Billen, 284 So. 2d 209 (Fla.1973); Whitlock v. Elich, 409 So. 2d 110 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982). Our review of the record reveals competent, substantial evidence to support the jury’s verdict on this issue.

We have considered appellant’s remaining issues and find them to be without merit.

AFFIRMED.

DAUKSCH and COWART, JJ., concur. . Bay Lake is completely within River Country and evidence was presented upon which it could be found that it was either owned by Disney or within its complete control.

Other

Appellant suggests that our original opinion is in error when it states in the footnote that “Bay Lake is completely within River Country ... ”, and that we probably intended to say that Bay Lake is completely enclosed by property owned by Walt Disney World Company. Although it does not affect the result, we therefore correct the footnote in the original opinion so that it reads: “Bay Lake is completely enclosed by property owned by Walt Disney World Company, and evidence was presented upon which it could be found that it was either owned by Disney or within its complete control.”

Except as the original opinion is clarified herein, the petition for rehearing is denied.

DAUKSCH and COWART, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Fla. E. Coast Ry. Co. v. Se. Bank, N.A., 585 So. 2d 314 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991)
    …igent operation of it. See Shumake v. Fla. E. Coast Ry. Co., 534 So. 2d 1178 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988); Florida E. Coast Ry. Co. v. Gonsiorowski, 418 So. 2d 382 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982), rev. denied, 427 So. 2d 736 (Fla.1983); Walt Disney World Co. v. Beattie, 428 So. 2d 693 (Fla. 5th DCA), rev. denied, 440 So. 2d 354 (Fla.1983). See also Florida E. Coast Ry. Co. v. Pickard, 573 So. 2d 850 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990). In Gonsiorowski, the plaintiff tripped on a pile of spikes while crossing the tracks and was subsequently stru…
  • Bettyann Kilgus v. Kilgus, 495 So. 2d 1230 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986)
    …t from a negligent act occurring on the premises. Maldonado v. Jack M. Berry Grove Corp., 351 So. 2d 967 (Fla.1977); Hix v. Billen, 284 So. 2d 209 (Fla.1973); Gerlach v. Trepanier, 440 So. 2d 73 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983); Walt Disney World Co. v. Beattie, 428 So. 2d 693 (Fla. 5th DCA), pet. for rev. denied, 440 So. 2d 354 (Fla.1983); Whitlock v. Elich, 409 So. 2d 110 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982). The father’s suggestion to the son to use the lighter fluid to reignite the cooking fire does not render the father liable for th…

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