ROBERT PONTE, APPELLANT,
v.
CSX TRANSPORTATION, INC., A CORPORATION, APPELLEE
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Robert Ponte, injured while trespassing on a CSX train at age 15, appealed a summary judgment in favor of CSX. The court affirmed, holding that CSX had no duty to warn a trespasser of open and obvious dangers and that the evidence did not establish active negligence in train operation.
CSX had no duty to warn Ponte, a trespasser or uninvited guest licensee, of the open and obvious dangers of jumping onto its moving trains. Additionally, the record evidence failed to disclose that CSX was actively negligent in the operation of its trains so as to render it liable, irrespective of Ponte's status as a trespasser.
[1] A landowner owes no duty to warn a trespasser or uninvited guest licensee of open and obvious dangers associated with the landowner's property.
[2] A landowner may be liable for active negligence in the operation of its property, irrespective of the injured party's status as a trespasser or licensee.
Previewing 2 of 3 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“the appellee had no duty to warn Ponte, a trespasser or an "uninvited guest licensee", on its property of the open and obvious dangers of jumping onto its moving trains”
Establishes the primary holding that CSX had no duty to warn a trespasser of open and obvious dangers.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRobert Ponte, age 15, was injured while hopping aboard one of CSX's slow-moving trains without permission and attempting to cross from one car to anot…
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PER CURIAM.
Robert Ponte was injured at age fifteen while hopping aboard one of the appellee’s slow moving trains without permission and attempting to cross from one car to another. We affirm the final summary judgment entered in favor of the appellee on the grounds that the appellee had no duty to warn Ponte, a trespasser or an “uninvited guest licensee”, on its property of the open and obvious dangers of jumping onto its moving trains, see Florida E. Coast Ry. Co. v. Pickard, 573 So. 2d 850, 857 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990), and that the record evidence otherwise failed to disclose that the appellee was actively negligent in the operation of its trains at the time of Ponte’s accident so as to render the appel-lee liable, irrespective of Ponte’s status. See Hix v. Billen, 284 So. 2d 209, 210 (Fla.1973)(drawing a distinction between active personal negligence on the part of landowner and that negligence which is based upon a negligent condition of the premises); see also Florida E. Coast Ry. Co. v. Southeast Bank, N.A., 585 So. 2d 314, 316 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991)(reasoning that plaintiffs status as a trespasser on the train couplings held irrelevant where the allegations and evidence were not that the injury was caused by a condition of the train but solely by its negligent operation); Seaboard Sys. R.R., Inc. v. Mells, 528 So. 2d 934, 937 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)(concluding that “when liability is predicated upon the negligence of the landowner to the person injured on his property unrelated to any defective condition of the premises, the status of the person injured is irrelevant and the standard of ordinary negligence set forth in Hix governs the landowner’s liability.”).
Affirmed.
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Veliz v. Rental Serv. Corp. USA, Inc., 313 F. Supp. 2d 1317 (M.D. Fla. 2003)…y to warn that boom on skid-steer loader would crush a foot extended out and over front sill of operator's compartment and into boom's downward path because it was an open and obvious danger) (internal citations omitted); Ponte v. CSX Transp., Inc., 736 So.2d 790 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1999) (finding no duty to warn trespassers, or uninvited guests licensees on its property, of the open and obvious dangers associated with jumping onto moving trains); Romano v. Palm Beach County, 715 So.2d 315, 316 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998)…
Authorities Cited
- HIX v. Billen, 284 So. 2d 209 (Fla. 1973)
- Fla. E. Coast Ry. Co. v. Pickard, 573 So. 2d 850 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)
- Fla. E. Coast Ry. Co. v. Se. Bank, N.A., 585 So. 2d 314 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991)
- Seaboard Sys. R.R., Inc. v. Mells, 528 So. 2d 934 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)