WILLIAM WAYNE MCDANIEL, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF JOHN PERRY MCDANIEL, FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE ESTATE OF JOHN PERRY MCDANIEL, AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF HELEN B. MCDANIEL, SURVIVING WIFE, APPELLANT,
v.
JAMES B. SHEFFIELD, PAMELA W. SHEFFIELD AND SAFECO INSURANCE COMPANIES, APPELLEES
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The personal representative of an employee killed by an armed robber during a robbery at a convenience store and service station sued the owners/corporate officers of the company, alleging negligence in failing to protect the employee from criminal conduct. The court affirmed summary judgment for the defendants, holding that the corporate officers owed no individual duty to the employee separate from the corporation's workers' compensation liability.
The Sheffields owed no individual duty to the decedent employee. Even if they were co-lessees of the property, they did not individually owe any duty unless they were in possession and control of the premises in their individual capacities separate from their roles as corporate officers. The sole remedy against them was through workers' compensation, which had already been collected.
[1] A corporation acts only through its officers, agents, and employees.
[2] Corporate officers do not owe a duty to employees of the corporation unless they are in individual possession and control of the premises, separate from their corporate c…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The Sheffields had no duty to the decedent as a result of any acts performed as corporate officers.”
Establishes that actions taken in corporate capacity do not create individual liability
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceJames and Pamela Sheffield owned 99% of Sheffield Oil Company, an Alabama corporation operating a convenience store and service station near Campbellt…
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THOMPSON, Judge.
The personal representative of the decedent appeals a summary final judgment entered in favor of the defendants in a wrongful death action. We affirm.
James and Pamela Sheffield (Sheffields), husband and wife, are corporate officers owning 99% of the stock of Sheffield Oil Company, Inc. (Oil Company), an Alabama corporation authorized to do business in Florida. The Oil Company and the Shef-fields leased a location and improvements in a rural area near Campbellton, Florida, where the Oil Company operated a combination convenience store and service station. The decedent was employed as a clerk by the Oil Company at this Campbellton store and while so employed was shot and killed by an unknown armed robber. Since his death arose out of and in the course of his employment with the Oil Company, his surviving widow received workers’ compensation death benefits as provided by law.
Later the personal representative of the decedent filed a complaint against the Shef-fields, alleging they were negligent in failing to exercise their duty to protect the decedent from criminal conduct occurring on the premises. The trial judge granted the Sheffields’ motion for summary judgment and entered final summary judgment in their favor. The personal representative appealed this final summary judgment on the grounds that there were issues of fact regarding the status of the Sheffields under the lease, the status of the Sheffields under the concept of employer immunity under’’ the workers’ compensation law, and the status of the Sheffields’ possession and control of the premises.
Although the Sheffields and the lessors testified that the Sheffields individually signed the lease as guarantors and not as lessees, the lease is sufficient to create an issue as to the status of the Sheffields under the lease. However, even if we assume the Sheffields were co-lessees of the property, they did not individually owe the decedent any duty unless they were also in possession and control of premises in their individual capacities and not as corporate officers. The only way a corporation can act is through its officers, agents, and employees. The Sheffields had no duty to the decedent as a result of any acts performed as corporate officers. The sole remedy of the decedent’s dependents against the Oil Company was the workers’ compensation claim which they have already collected. There was no issue of fact on the question of whether the Sheffields individually were in possession of the premises and summary judgment was properly granted.
AFFIRMED.
MILLS and JOANOS, JJ., concur.
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White-Wilson Med. Ctr. v. Dayta Consultants, Inc., 486 So. 2d 659 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)…scope of their employment or as corporate officers or agents. This is so even if no argument is advanced that the corporate form should be disregarded. Adams v. Brickell Townhouse, 388 So. 2d 1279, 1280 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980). In McDaniel v. Sheffield, 431 So. 2d 230 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983) we held that officers of a corporation did not individually owe a duty to an employee who was shot and killed during an armed robbery where they were not in possession of the premises in their individual capacities. A corporate o…
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McELVEEN v. Peeler, 544 So. 2d 270 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989)…ommercial Bank & Trust Co., 425 So. 2d 636, 640 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983). “A corporate officer or agent must be alleged to have acted tortiously in his individual capacity in order to be individually liable.” White-Wilson at 661. In McDaniel v. Sheffield, 431 So. 2d 230 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983), this court held that where officers of a corporation were not individually in possession of a convenience store and gas station at the time an armed robber entered the premises and shot and killed an employee, the corporate offi…1 / 2
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Sullivan v. Atl. Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n, 454 So. 2d 52 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984)…suit of medical technologist who was allegedly raped and robbed in dormitory room which she rented from the hospital at which she was employed); see also Katchis v. Miami Heart Institute, Inc., 434 So. 2d 11 (Fla.3d DCA 1983); McDaniel v. Sheffield, 431 So. 2d 230 (Fla.1st DCA), petition for rev. denied, 440 So. 2d 352 (Fla.1983); Davis v. Sun First National Bank of Orlando, 408 So. 2d 608 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981), petition for rev. denied, 413 LSo. 2d 875 (Fla.1982) (upholding dismissal of negligence claim agains…
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