LOMAS
v.
WEST PALM BEACH WATER CO.
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The Florida Supreme Court affirmed a summary judgment for a water company in a wrongful death suit. The court found the plaintiff failed to establish that an artificial pond on the company's property constituted an attractive nuisance, as required for liability in drowning cases.
No, the artificial pond did not constitute an attractive nuisance. The plaintiff failed to present evidence showing the pond was constructed in a manner that would constitute a trap or possess an unusual element of danger beyond that typically found in such bodies of water.
“owners of artificial lakes, fish ponds, mill ponds, gin ponds and other pools, streams and bodies of water are not guilty of negligence for drownings therein unless they are constructed so as to constitute a trap or raft or unless there is some unusual element of danger lurking about them not existent in ponds generally.”
This quote establishes the legal standard for liability in drowning cases involving artificial bodies of water, which the court applied to the facts.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA minor child drowned in an artificial pond created by the West Palm Beach Water Company. The child's mother sued, alleging the pond's white sand bank…
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TERRELL, Justice.
These appeals are from summary judgments in two suits arising from the same tragedy. In the first, Leila Lomas appeals as mother of a deceased minor child. In the second suit she appeals as administratrix of the minor child, who was drowned while swimming in a pond located on the premises of appellee. The complaint alleges that the West Palm Beach Water Company created the pond and that it was constructed with white sand banks so that deceased was lured to it and that it constituted an attractive nuisance.
Defendant answered the complaint denying all material allegations and moved for summary judgment on the ground that there was no dispute as to material facts. Attached to the motion to dismiss was an engineer's drawing illustrating the depth of the water, the contour and approach to the pond, including affidavits supporting the contention that the pond had no spoil banks, that it was isolated and the approach *882 to it was on a slight grade. Plaintiff also submitted affidavits at the hearing on the motion which did not contradict those filed by defendant. The trial court found that plaintiff failed to make a case under the attractive nuisance doctrine and entered summary judgment for defendant. The plaintiff appealed.
The complaint attempted to make a case within the rule announced by this Court in Allen v. William P. McDonald Corporation, Fla., 42 So. 2d 706, wherein we held with the decided weight of authority that owners of artificial lakes, fish ponds, mill ponds, gin ponds and other pools, streams and bodies of water are not guilty of negligence for drownings therein unless they are constructed so as to constitute a trap or raft or unless there is some unusual element of danger lurking about them not existent in ponds generally. Appellant failed to make a case within this rule.
We approve the procedure followed by the trial court in considering affidavits, documents and other evidence when confronted with the motion for summary judgment. The rule should be administered so as to serve its purpose and reach a just conclusion. When the issues were made there was nothing before the court except the question of whether or not the declaration made a case within the rule announced in Allen v. William P. McDonald Corporation, supra.
Affirmed.
SEBRING, C.J., and THOMAS and HOBSON, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (16 total)
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Ansin v. Thurston, 101 So. 2d 808 (Fla. 1958)…cts with two subsequent decisions where this Court affirmed judgments for defendant in such actions, but did not purport to overrule the earlier case. Newby v. West Palm Beach Water Co., Fla., 47 So. 2d 527; Lomas v. West Palm Beach Water Co., Fla., 57 So. 2d 881. In the brief much attention is devoted to the character of the banks surrounding the body of water involved, and argument is addressed primarily to the point that the present case is distinguishable upon the facts from Allen v. McDonald Corp., supr…
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Adler v. Mr. and Mrs. H. S. Copeland, Jr., 105 So. 2d 594 (Fla. 3d DCA 1958)…t guilty of actionable negligence for drownings therein unless it is so constructed as to constitute a trap or unless there is some unusual element of danger lurking about it not existent in ponds generally. Lomas v. West Palm Beach Water Co., Fla., 57 So. 2d 881; Newby v. West Palm Beach Water Co., Fla., 47 So. 2d 527; Allen v. William P. McDonald Corp., Fla., 42 So. 2d 706.” In the instant case, there was nothing shown that constituted a trap or latent danger. Swimming pools are fairly common in South Flo…
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Kinya v. Lifter, Inc., 489 So. 2d 92 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986)…guilty of actionable negligence for drownings therein unless it is so constructed as to constitute a trap or unless there is some unusual element of dan [*95] ger lurking about it, not existent in ponds generally. Lomas v. West Palm Beach Water Co., 57 So. 2d 881 (Fla.1952); Newby v. West Palm Beach Water Co., 47 So. 2d 527 (Fla.1950); Hendershot v. Kapok Tree, Inc., 203 So. 2d 628 (Fla. 2d DCA 1967); Switzer v. Dye, 177 So. 2d 539 (Fla. 1st DCA 1965); Banks v. Mason, 132 So. 2d 219 (Fla. 2d DCA 1961). The f…
Previewing 3 of 16 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Allen v. William P. McDonald Corp., 42 So. 2d 706 (Fla. 1949)
- Lomas v. W. Palm Beach Water Co., 57 So.2d 881 (Fla. 1952)