SOUTHEAST BANK, N.A., APPELLANT,
v.
J.A.M.A. MOBILE HOME PARKS LIMITED PARTNERSHIP AND SOUTHEAST FIRE INSURANCE CO., APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 1986-07-02
No. BI-377
SHIVERS and BARFIELD, JJ., concur.
490 So. 2d 1057 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1986) Caution
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

Southeast Bank, as representative for two minor children killed in a mobile home fire, appealed the dismissal of its complaint against a mobile home park owner and insurance company. The court reversed the dismissal, finding the complaint alleged sufficient facts to create a jury issue on proximate causation.


Holding

The court held that the complaint contained sufficient allegations of fact to create a jury issue on causation and therefore should not have been dismissed. The court reversed the dismissal and remanded the case.


Headnotes

[1] A complaint alleging that a landlord's failure to repair dangerous electrical wiring, known to the landlord, led to tenants using candles for illumination, which in turn…

[2] A landlord's knowledge of dangerous conditions and the need for immediate repairs, coupled with a failure to make such repairs before a tenant takes possession, can estab…

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Key Quotes

“The complaint contains sufficient allegations of fact to create a jury issue on causation.”

The court's holding reversing the dismissal and finding adequate pleading of proximate causation.

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Facts & Procedural History

Two minor children died in a fire at a trailer in a mobile home park allegedly owned by J.A.M.A. Mobile Home Parks. The trailer's electrical wiring wa…

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Opinion of the Court
ZEHMER, Judge.

ZEHMER, Judge.

We review on appeal the final judgment dismissing appellant’s third amended complaint with prejudice. The complaint was filed by appellant as personal representative for two minor children killed in a fire in the trailer park alleged to be owned and operated by the appellee partnership. Essentially, the complaint alleged that the electrical wiring in the trailer was so defective and dangerous that the Jacksonville Electric Authority terminated service to the trailer until appropriate repairs had been made; that defendant owner was under a duty to repair such defects “before allowing the tenant to take possession of the mobile home”; that defendant had knowledge of such defects and the need for immediate repairs, but failed to make them; that, as a result of the termination of electric service, the tenants were required to use candles at night for purposes of illumination, instead of electric lamps; that the use of such means of illumination was reasonably foreseeable and known by defend ant to be dangerous and unreasonably hazardous to small children living in the trailer; and that, as a result, the two minor children were burned to death in a fire started by the use of such candles. The trial court dismissed the complaint because it failed to allege “ultimate facts sufficient to show that any action of the defendants was the proximate cause of plaintiffs injuries.”

We reverse. The complaint contains sufficient allegations of fact to create a jury issue on causation. See Bennett M. Lifter, Inc. v. Varnado, 480 So. 2d 1336 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985); Paterson v. Deeb, 472 So. 2d 1210 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985); Enis v. Ba-Call Building Corp., 639 F. 2d 359 (7th Cir. 1980). The Third District decision in Var-nado specifically rejected the reasoning of the New York appellate courts in Martinez v. Lazaroff, 66 A.D.2d 874, 411 N.Y.S.2d 955 (1978), aff'd, 48 N.Y.2d 819, 424 N.Y. S.2d 126, 399 N.E. 2d 1148 (1979), as inconsistent with the law of Florida on foreseeability and intervening cause. We agree with the reasoning of our sister court, and likewise reject Martinez.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

SHIVERS and BARFIELD, JJ., concur. . We would be remiss in not pointing out that the trial judge did not have the benefit of the opinion in Varnado at the time the appealed judgment was entered.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Landrum v. Fla. Power & Light Co., 505 So. 2d 552 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987)
    …se we hold that the FP & L tariff operates as a bar to liability for ordinary negligence, we decline to address the foreseeability issue as it relates to negligence. We distinguish the case of Southeast Bank, N.A. v. J.A.M.A. Mobile Home Parks Ltd., 490 So. 2d 1057 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986) (owner and operator of trailer liable for defective wiring which caused termination of electricity necessitating use of a candle which started fire), relied upon by appellants, on the basis that in Southeast Bank, there was no ta…

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