ANTONIA CRUZ, INDIVIDUALLY, AND AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF NELSON E. CRUZ, DECEASED, AND AS LEGAL GUARDIAN FOR MARIANELA CRUZ, A MINOR, BRUNELA CRUZ, A MINOR, CLARITA CRUZ, A MINOR, REBECA CRUZ, A MINOR, AND ANTONIO CRUZ, A MINOR, APPELLANTS,
v.
GABLES COLONY LTD., A FLORIDA LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, AND RILEA CORP., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLEES

Fla. 3d DCA | 1991-05-07
No. 90-1163
Before FERGUSON, JORGENSON and GERSTEN, JJ.
579 So. 2d 278 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1991) Caution
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

In a wrongful death action arising from a construction site crane accident, the court affirmed summary judgment for the property owner and its general partner, holding that property owners who hire independent contractors for construction are not liable to the contractors' employees absent a specific act of negligence or a nondelegable duty created by contract.


Holding

The property owner is not liable because neither exception to the general rule of non-liability applies. The crane lease created no contractual obligation to ensure worker safety, as it was an arm's-length transaction drafted solely to protect the crane owner's financial interests. Additionally, the property owner committed no specific act of negligence, as it merely leased the crane as an accommodation and played no active role in supervising construction or selecting equipment.


Headnotes

[1] A property owner who hires an independent contractor to perform construction is generally not liable to the contractor's employees for injuries sustained on the job site.

[2] A lease agreement for equipment does not create a nondelegable duty of safety for third-party employees unless the contract clearly and intentionally establishes such a r…

Previewing 2 of 4 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

Key Quotes

“property owners who turn their property over to general contractors for construction purposes are not liable to the contractors' employees for injuries sustained on the job site”

Establishes the baseline rule of non-liability for property owners who hire independent contractors for construction work.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Nelson Cruz was killed when struck by a crane while working on the roof of a building under construction on property owned by Gables Colony, Ltd. The …

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.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

The plaintiffs in a wrongful death action appeal a summary judgment granted in favor of the defendant landowner and the landowner’s general partner. Nelson Cruz was killed when struck by a crane as he worked on the roof of a building being constructed on property owned by Gables Colony, Ltd. Rilea Corporation is a general partner of Gables Colony. The property owner did not participate in the construction operations; instead a general contractor was hired to build and supervise the project.1 For credit reasons, the crane involved in the accident was leased in the name of Gables Colony rather than the general contractor. Appellants acknowledge the general rule that property owners who turn their property over to general contractors for construction purposes are not liable to the contractors’ employees for injuries sustained on the job site, Conklin v. Cohen, 287 So. 2d 56 (Fla.1973), but advance two arguments for applying an exception to the rule in this case. The first argument of the appellants is that the property owner had a contractual obligation to provide for the safety of the independent contractor’s employee by virtue of the lease agreement between the property owner and the owner of the crane which was used by the general contractor in the course of construction. The appellants’ second argument is that the common law imposes liability on a landowner who hires an independent contractor to perform professional services where the landowner plays an active role in rendering those services or otherwise commits a specific act of negligence which causes harm to the contractor’s employee. Under the facts of this case, neither theory applies and summary judgment was properly entered.

Appellants’ first argument fails because a contractual obligation to ensure the worker’s safety was not created by the lease agreement. A close reading of the contract in its entirety reflects an arm’s-length transaction where the owner assumed no responsibility for the proper operation of the crane. Although paragraph three provides that the owner is responsible for ensuring that sufficient clearance is provided for the crane, that provision was drafted by the crane owner for the specific purpose of making the lessee liable for damage to the crane.2 The uncontro-verted evidence is that the lease was prepared with the intent to benefit the crane owner’s financial interests and was not intended to benefit third persons. For that reason, the trial judge correctly rejected appellants’ argument that the contract created a nondelegable duty of overseeing the safety of employees of the independent contractor. Where the plain language of the contract, as well as the undisputed intent of the signatories, supports a particular construction, a trial court is correct in rejecting an inconsistent interpretation. American Medical Int’l, Inc. v. Scheller, 462 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984), rev. denied, 471 So. 2d 44 (Fla.1985).

Appellants’ second argument for imposing a duty on the landowner fails because there was no specific act of negligence by the owner. The lease of the crane by the owner, rather than by the general contractor, was performed for credit purposes as an accommodation to the general contractor. It is undisputed that the crane chosen for the job was selected by the general contractor and that the owner played no active part in supervising the construction effort. Allegations that the crane selected was not suitable for the job should be directed to the general contractor. Where no evidence was presented that the landowner negligently created or approved a dangerous condition, liability may not be imposed. City of Miami v. Perez, 509 So. 2d 343, 345-46 (Fla. 3d DCA), rev. denied, 519 So. 2d 987 (Fla.1987).

Affirmed.

. The general contractor acknowledged its workers' compensation obligations to the decedent and is not a party to this suit which seeks additional recoveries.

. While in operation, the crane’s counterweight had only a four-inch clearance over the top of the building being constructed. It was known that the counterweight had struck the building on at least one occasion during a rocking action of the crane. Cruz was struck as he stood over the highest point of the structure performing the work of his subcontractor employer. Allegedly, the owner did not provide sufficient clearance in breach of the contract terms.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Gregorio Armenteros v. Baptist Hosp. OF Miami, Inc., 714 So. 2d 518 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998)
    …chase materials to utilize its tax free status, inspect the work to ensure the high standards it sought to maintain, and control schedules so as to permit surgeries to go uninterrupted and patients to go unendangered. See Cruz v. Gables Colony Ltd., 579 So. 2d 278 (Fla. 3 DCA 1991) (affirming summary judgment, this court concluded that property owner did not play active role in rendering services provided by independent contractor and owner did not commit specific act of negligence to cause harm to contractor…
  • Moraes v. City OF Miami, 827 So. 2d 1104 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002)
    …clear that the appel-lees had not taken physical possession of the work site and had not begun construction on it, the summary judgment is affirmed. See Verges v. Pacheco & Sons, Inc., 822 So. 2d 542 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002); Cruz v. Gables Colony, Ltd., 579 So. 2d 278 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991). Affirmed.…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw