PAUL B. BROWN, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR,
v.
THE TOWN OF EUSTIS, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, DEFENDANT IN ERROR
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Paul Brown sued the Town of Eustis for assault by a police officer who allegedly arrested him without authority and struck him with a revolver. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed dismissal of the complaint, holding that municipalities are not liable for unlawful acts committed by their officers acting outside the scope of lawful authority.
A municipality is not liable for the tortious or unlawful acts of its officers unless those acts are committed in the exercise of corporate power or in performance of a duty imposed by law. Since the officer's arrest and assault were wholly unauthorized and unlawful, the municipality cannot be held liable.
“a municipal corporation is not liable for the tortious acts committed by its officers as such, unless the acts complained of were committed in the exercise of some corporate power, or in the performance of some duty imposed upon the municipality by law, and that it is not liable for the unlawful or prohibited acts of its officers or agents”
Establishes the governing legal standard for municipal liability in Florida
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA police officer entered a building where Brown was a guest, arrested him without cause, struck him with a revolver, and detained him overnight in jai…
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Chillingworth, Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff sues the municipality for an assault alleged to have been perpetrated by one of its policemen. It is alleged in the amended dec taxation that while the policeman was patrolling the streets, the policeman, without authority of law and without being requested or called, entered into a certain place of business and attempted to and did arrest the plqintiff; that plaintiff was in the building as a guest of the owners thereof; that the arrest was without cause, malicious and without provocation on the part of the plaintiff; that the policeman struck the plaintiff and inflicted certain injuries upon him ; that the policeman, while acting as such, after plaintiff had been felled by a blow from the policeman’s revolver, took him to jail and kept him there for the remainder of the night, for all of which the plaintiff claims certain damages for the personal injuries alleged.
A judgment was entered for defendant on a demurrer to the amended declaration.
It is a settled law in this State that a municipal corporation is not liable for the tortious acts committed by its officers as such, unless the acts complained of were committed in the exercise of some corporate power, or in the performance of some duty imposed upon the municipality by law, and that it is not liable for the unlawful or prohibited acts of its officers or agents. City of Orlando v. Pragg, 31 Fla. 111, 12 South. Rep. 368, 34 Am. St. Rep. 17, 19 L. R. A. 196.
Judge Dillon in his work on Municipal Corporations, Vol. 4 (5th ed.), p. 2883, states that police officers appointed by a city are not its agents or servants in such sense as to render it i*esponsible for unlawful or negligent acts in the discharge of their public duties as policemen.
In the instant case the amended declaration clearly shows that the officer was without any authority to enter the building and arrest plaintiff; therefore, all of the injuries sustained by the plaintiff were committed by the officer during an unlawful and prohibited act, tbe doing of which was not authorized by the municipality or delegated to the municipality by any law.
The judgment will be affirmed.
Pee Curiam. — The record in this cause having been considered by the Court, and the foregoing opinion prepared under Chapter 7837, Acts of 1919, adopted by the Court as its opinion, it is considered, ordered and adjudged by the Court that the judgment of the court below should be, and the same is, hereby affirmed.
Brown, C. J., and Whitfield, Ellis, Terrell, Strum and Buford, J. J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (12 total)
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Cauley v. City OF Jacksonville, 403 So. 2d 379 (Fla. 1981)…unctions, the courts determined that cities remained immune from suit, but, as to proprietary acts, immunity was abolished. Florida accepted this view. Ballard v. City of Tampa, 124 Fla. 457, 168 So. 654 (1936); Brown v. City of Eustis, 92 Fla. 931, 110 So. 873 (1926); City of Orlando v. Pragg, 31 Fla. 111, 12 So. 368 (1893). In turn, a problem soon arose in determining which municipal functions were governmental, and thus immune from suit, and those which were proprietary, and thus not immune. As Florida…
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Kennedy v. City of Daytona Beach, 132 Fla. 675 (Fla. 1938)…ted in the exercise of some corporate power or in the performance of some duty imposed upon the municipality by law and' that it is not liable for the unlawful or prohibitive acts of its officers or agents.” See Brown v. Town of Eustis, 93 Fla. 931, 110 Sou. 873, and cases there cited. In 43 C. J. 964, paragraph 1745, the principle involved is stated thus: “When, by the action of the State, a municipal corporation is charged with the preservation of the peace, and empowered to appoint police boards and ot…
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Ballard v. City of Tampa, 124 Fla. 457 (Fla. 1936)…governmental duties, and cannot be held responsible for the negligence or misconduct of officers which it must, of necessity, employ. See 46 A. L. R. 100-101. This general principle is recognized, with a significant qualification in Brown v. Eustis, 92 Fla. 931, 110 S. 873. However, while there is some conflict of authorities, we are of the opinion, and our own cases so hold, that' the repair and upkeep of the streets of a municipality is a corporate function, for the abuse of which, by the negligence or w…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- The City of Orlando v. Pragg, 31 Fla. 111 (Fla. 1893)