JUDITH L. BUDET, APPELLANT,
v.
K-MART CORPORATION, APPELLEE
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.
Judith Budet was struck by an oversized garden cart (called a 'float') in a K-Mart store and sued for negligence. K-Mart obtained summary judgment arguing its negligence was not the proximate cause and that an unknown customer's intervening act relieved it of liability. The appellate court reversed, holding that questions of foreseeability and intervening cause were for the jury to decide.
The court held that K-Mart did not meet its burden on summary judgment to show the absence of a genuine factual dispute. Questions of foreseeability and whether an intervening cause relieves a defendant of liability are for the jury to decide, not for summary judgment. The fact that the injury resulted from a customer's act does not insulate K-Mart from liability if the harm falls within the scope of danger created by K-Mart's negligent conduct.
[1] A store owes a duty to business invitees to exercise reasonable care for their safety and to keep aisles and passageways in a reasonably safe condition, including elimina…
[2] A store owner may be held liable on the basis of constructive notice if a dangerous condition has existed for a sufficient length of time such that the owner should have…
Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“As Budet was a business invitee, K-Mart owed her a duty to exercise reasonable care for her safety.”
Establishes the fundamental duty owed by K-Mart to the plaintiff as a customer in the store
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceWhile shopping in K-Mart's garden department, Budet was struck on the back of her leg by an oversized garden cart (float) that an unknown customer had…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Independent Intervening Cause cases and more on FLexlaw
SCHOONOVER, Judge.
Appellant, Judith L. Budet, appeals from a final summary judgment entered against her. We reverse.
Budet brought a negligence action against appellee, K-Mart Corporation, because of injuries she sustained in one of its stores. While shopping in the garden department of a K-Mart store in Charlotte County, Florida, Budet was struck by an oversized garden cart. An unknown customer had pushed the cart between two display tables, and as it entered the aisle in which Budet was standing, it struck her on the back of her leg causing her to fall onto and across the cart.
K-Mart moved for summary judgment on the grounds that its negligence, if any, was not the proximate cause of the accident and that there was an independent intervening cause of Budet’s injuries. Depositions of three store employees were submitted at the hearing on K-Mart’s motion. According to the deposition of the manager, the carts, referred to as “floats,” were approximately three-feet wide, five-feet long, and one-and one-half-feet high. They were unwieldy and not easily controlled by someone who was unfamiliar with their operation. Some of the floats were customarily kept in the garden department area, but they were not to be used by customers because merchandise would be damaged as the floats were moved through the aisles. According to the deposition of an assistant store manager, the floats were to be used by employees in the storeroom, within the store to move merchandise, and in the garden department to assist stock people in loading large bags of fertilizer into customers’ cars. The store did not want customers to use the floats because, in attempting to load bags of fertilizer onto floats, customers would pick up the bags incorrectly, and this would rip the bags and destroy merchandise. The cashier employed in the garden department, Linda Kraatz, testified by deposition that the floats were frequently and customarily used by customers to cart bigger merchandise such as plants and bags of fertilizer. In addition to the deposition testimony, answers to interrogatories propounded by K-Mart were submitted to the court. In these answers, Budet stated that immediately after the accident, the employee who took her statement told her that the accident was not the fault of the lady who had moved the float, but was the fault of the employees who had placed the float in the store.1 The trial court granted K-Mart’s motion for summary judgment, and Budet filed a timely notice of appeal.
We agree that K-Mart did not carry its burden of proving the nonexistence of a genuine issue as to any material fact and its entitlement to a judgment as a matter of law. Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.510(c); Holl v. Talcott, 191 So. 2d 40 (Fla.1966).
As Budet was a business invitee, K-Mart owed her a duty to exercise reasonable care for her safety. Hall v. Billy Jack’s, Inc., 458 So. 2d 760 (Fla.1984); Kolosky v. Winn Dixie Stores, Inc., 472 So. 2d 891 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985), petition for review denied, 482 So. 2d 350 (Fla.1986). Although K-Mart is not an insurer of its customers’ safety, K-Mart does have the duty to exercise ordinary care to keep its aisles and passageways in a reasonably safe condition, and this includes eliminating dangerous conditions of which it has actual or constructive notice. Kolosky. A store may be held liable on the basis of constructive notice if the condition is one that has existed for a sufficient length of time such that the owner should have known of it, regardless of whether the condition was created by a store employee or by an outsider. Kolosky. The evidence would support a finding that K-Mart knowingly left an oversized float, which it knew to be unwieldy and not easily controlled by someone unfamiliar with it, in a place where the float could be, and was, frequently and customarily used by customers. This was done even though the store had knowledge that its use by customers would likely result in damage to property and in spite of its policy not to allow customers access to the floats.
The trial court ruled that, as a matter of law, Budet’s injuries were not the reasonably foreseeable consequence of K-Mart’s negligence. K-Mart concedes that it could be foreseen that an injury “might” occur to a patron because of the floats, but contends that foreseeability is not what “might” possibly occur. In support of its argument K-Mart relies upon Heps v. Burdine’s, Inc., 69 So. 2d 340 (Fla.1954), a case where a customer was injured on an escalator when another customer pushed a baby stroller into her. The court found there was nothing inherently dangerous about a mother conveying a child in a stroller and refused to require an owner of a public building to anticipate such injury. The court indulged itself in the presumption that those who use escalators will conduct themselves as ladies and gentlemen. We agree that no liability exists when the act complained of involves a sudden, unexpected action by a tortfeasor where there is no prior indication that the tortfeasor is engaging in the type of conduct that causes the injury. Heps; Kolosky. Here, however, evidence would support a finding that a dangerous condition was created by K-Mart itself, and the store knew that use of the floats by customers had caused property damage in the past. The fact that the act resulted in injury to a person rather than property does not, as a matter of law, change the result. The question of foreseeability was for the trier of fact to decide. Gibson v. Avis Rent-A-Car Systems, Inc., 386 So. 2d 520 (Fla.1980).
We also disagree with K-Mart’s contention that the unknown customer was an independent, intervening cause which operated to relieve K-Mart from liability for any alleged negligent act or omission. In order for injuries to be a foreseeable consequence of a negligent act, it is not necessary that the initial tortfeasor be able to foresee the exact nature and extent of the injuries, or the precise manner in which the injuries will occur. It is only necessary that the tortfeasor be able to foresee that some injury will likely result in some manner as a consequence of its negligent act. Leib v. City of Tampa, 326 So. 2d 52 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976); Crislip v. Holland, 401 So. 2d 1115 (Fla. 4th DCA), petition for review denied, 411 So. 2d 380 (Fla.1981). If the harm that occurs is within the scope of danger created by a defendant’s negligent conduct, then such harm is a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the negligence. Crislip. The question of foreseeability as it relates to proximate cause and whether an intervening cause is foreseeable is for the trier of fact. See Crislip. The question of the extent of K-Mart’s responsibility to anticipate the consequences of making the floats accessible to customers, in spite of its policy of not allowing customers to use them, was therefore the province of the trier of fact and should not have been summarily resolved in favor of either party. Crislip. We, accordingly, reverse and remand for proceedings consistent herewith.
GRIMES, A.C.J., and FRANK, J., concur. . This statement was admissible. See § 90.-803(18), Fla.Stat. (1983); Myrick v. Lloyd, 158 Fla. 47, 27 So. 2d 615 (1946).
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (11 total)
-
R.B. Brooks and Cynthia Brooks v. Phillip Watts Enters., Inc., 560 So. 2d 339 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)…he dangerous condition existed for such a length of time that in the exercise of ordinary care, the defendant should have known of the condition, Grizzard, 330 So. 2d at 769; Maryland Maintenance v. Palmieri, 559 So. 2d at 76; Budet v. K-Mart Corp., 491 So. 2d 1248 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986); Nance, 436 So. 2d at 1076; Schmidt v. Bowl America Florida, Inc., 358 So. 2d 1385 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978), or (2) by showing that the condition occurred with regularity and was therefore foreseeable. Maryland Maintenance v. Palmieri;…
-
Westchester Exxon v. Marcelo Valdes and Maribel Valdes, 524 So. 2d 452 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988)…stomers’ safety; rather, he owes his customers only a duty to protect against those risks which are reasonably foreseeable. Hall v. Billy Jack’s, Inc., 458 So. 2d 760 (Fla.1984); Stevens v. Jefferson, 436 So. 2d 33 (Fla.1983); Budet v. K-Mart Corp., 491 So. 2d 1248 (Fla.2d DCA 1986). Measured against this standard, it is clear, as a matter of law, that Westchester breached no duty owed to Valdes. Where a jury could not reasonably differ as to the existence of a material fact or inference, a directed verdict sh…
-
City OF Milton v. Broxson, 514 So. 2d 1116 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)…ated above, the landowner also has the duty to invitees to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition, including the elimination of dangerous conditions of which the landowner has actual or constructive notice. Budet v. K-Mart Corporation, 491 So. 2d 1248 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). In Restatement of Torts, Second, Section 343A, the following is stated: A possessor of land is not liable to his invitees for physical harm caused to them by any activity or condition on the land whose danger is known or obviou…
Previewing 3 of 11 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Gory Roofing Tile Mfg., Inc. v. Davison, 191 So. 2d 40 (Fla. 1966)
- Gibson v. AVIS Rent-A-Car Sys., Inc., 386 So. 2d 520 (Fla. 1980)
- Jackson v. State, 401 So. 2d 1115 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981)
- Hall v. Billy Jack's, Inc., 458 So. 2d 760 (Fla. 1984)
- In the Interest v. McD., 472 So. 2d 891 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985)
- Heps v. Burdine's, Inc., 69 So. 2d 340 (Fla. 1954)
- Myrick v. Lloyd, 158 Fla. 47 (Fla. 1946)
- Leib v. City OF Tampa, 326 So. 2d 52 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976)