NATIONAL PROPERTY INVESTORS, II, LIMITED, A FLORIDA LIMITED PARTNERSHIP AND RESOURCES PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CORP., APPELLANTS,
v.
JULIE ATTARDO, ET AL., APPELLEES
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National Property Investors appealed the dismissal of its third-party contribution claim against Southland Corporation, alleging that Southland's 7-Eleven store was partially liable for a sexual assault that occurred at NPI's apartment complex. The court affirmed the dismissal, holding that landlord liability does not extend to crimes committed by individuals who happen to be on a defendant's property and then follow a victim to another location to commit crimes.
The court held that landlord liability does not extend to crimes committed by individuals who first encounter victims on a defendant's property and then follow them to a third party's property to commit crimes. A property owner's duty extends only to protecting patrons while they remain on its premises.
[1] A defendant cannot seek contribution from a third party for damages arising from an incident that occurred entirely on the third party's property, absent a direct causal…
[2] Landlord liability does not extend to criminal acts committed by a third party against a tenant off the landlord's premises, even if the perpetrator was present on the th…
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“But to suggest that Southland is liable because someone who happens to be on its property (even if he has not and did not intend to purchase anything) follows a patron down the street to an unlighted parking lot and there commits a crime is carrying landlord liability too far.”
Establishes the court's holding that landlord liability does not extend to crimes committed off-premises by individuals who merely happened to be on the defendant's property.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOn February 7, 1989, Julie Attardo, a tenant at Sugar Mill Apartments owned by NPI, was abducted, threatened, assaulted, and ultimately sexually assau…
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HARRIS, Chief Judge.
Julie Attardo sued National Property Investors, II, Limited, and others, the owners of a Melbourne apartment complex (hereinafter referred to collectively as NPI) and alleged:
That on or about February 7, 1989, the plaintiff [a tenant of the apartment complex] was abducted, threatened and assaulted by a male while on the premises of the Sugar Mill Apartments, and was ultimately sexually assaulted by said male.
NPI filed a third-party action against Southland Corporation, the owner of a 7-Eleven store located across the street from its apai'tment complex alleging:
That on or about February 7, 1989, the plaintiff Julie Attardo was abducted, threatened and assaulted by a third party defendant, Carlos Weir, in the parking lot of the third party defendant Southland Corporation and was ultimately sexually assaulted by said Carlos Weir. Since clearly NPI has no independent action against Southland for the abduction or assault of Ms. Attardo on Southland’s property, its cause must be based on a contribution claim because Southland is somehow partially liable for Ms. Attardo’s claim against NPI. But Ms. Attardo claims that she was “abducted, threatened and assaulted” on the premises of Sugar Mill Apartments. This either means that two separate incidents of abducting, threatening or assaulting took place or that the original abduction, threat or assault was somehow connected to the sexual assault that took place on the apartment lot. If indeed there were two separate incidents, because Ms. Attardo does not complain about the first abduction, NPI has no standing to do so. It appears more likely, however, that NPI is alleging that Weil’ first accosted Ms. Attardo in the parking lot of 7-Eleven and followed her after she was able to avoid his attention there and as she returned to her apai’tment. In other words, because Weir first became attracted to Ms. Attardo in the parking lot and followed her from 7-Eleven to ultimately commit the acts alleged in the complaint in the parking lot of Sugar Mill where there is said to be inadequate lighting and security, NPI urges that Southland must legally share in the responsibility. We disagree.
Had Ms. Attardo sought damages for injuries sustained on 7-Eleven property, then the action against Southland would be appropriate. Had Weir grabbed Attardo on the 7-Eleven parking lot and carried her to the Sugar Mill lot to assault her, the action might be sustainable.1 But to suggest that Southland is liable because someone who happens to be on its property (even if he has not and did not intend to purchase anything) follows a patron down the street to an unlighted parking lot and there commits a crime is carrying landlord liability too far. Apparently the security at 7-Eleven, on its premises or on any premises being used or utilized by it, was sufficient to protect its patron so long as she remained there. No court has yet extended landlord liability beyond this point.
We affirm the dismissal of the complaint but remand to the trial court to permit NPI to again amend, if it can IN GOOD FAITH, to allege that Attardo was abducted on the 7-Eleven lot and from there transported to another location for the commission of the sexual battery.
AFFIRMED and REMANDED.
PETERSON and DIAMANTIS, JJ., concur. . NPI has chosen its words carefully in the pleading. While it has alleged that Attardo was "abducted, threatened and assaulted” in the 7-Eleven parking lot, it has carefully separated this allegation from its further allegation that Attardo was "ultimately sexually assaulted.” It was this ultimate sexual assault and its accompanying abduction that is the subject of Attardo’s complaint.
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Concepcion v. The Archdiocese OF Miami, 693 So. 2d 1103 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)…because a landowner owes no duty of care to invitees for events occurring solely off the landowner’s premises and which are wholly unconnected to any activity on the landowner’s premises. See Id. at 854; Nat’l Property Investors, II Ltd. v. Attardo, 639 So. 2d 691, 692 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994) (finding convenience store not liable for sexual assault of patron in nearby apartment complex by assailant who had followed the victim from the store’s parking lot); Marhefka v. Monte Carlo Management Corp., 358 So. 2d 1171…
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