LYNNE RICE, APPELLANT,
v.
MICHAEL WHITEHURST AND KATHY WHITEHURST, APPELLEES
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.
Rice sued the Whitehursts after falling in their home due to a change in floor levels between the foyer and sunken living room. The appellate court affirmed a directed verdict for the defendants, holding that a change in floor levels does not create an inherently dangerous condition requiring a duty to warn unless there is evidence of uncommon design or mode of construction.
A change in floor levels does not create an inherently dangerous condition requiring a duty to warn unless there is evidence of uncommon design or mode of construction that creates a hidden danger a prudent invitee would not anticipate. Here, the matching tile laid in a common, sequential manner did not constitute uncommon design or mode of construction, so the Whitehursts had no duty to warn.
[1] A possessor of land has a duty to warn invitees of inherently dangerous conditions that are not obvious to them.
[2] Generally, multiple floor levels do not create an inherently dangerous condition.
Previewing 2 of 5 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“A possessor of land has a duty to warn invitees of inherently dangerous conditions that are not obvious to them.”
Establishes the general duty of property owners to invitees regarding dangerous conditions
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRice, a guest in the Whitehursts' home, entered through the front door, walked straight ahead, and fell as she stepped from the foyer into a sunken li…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Hidden Danger cases and more on FLexlaw
STONE, J.
We affirm the final judgment rendered on a directed verdict in favor of the White-hursts.
Rice was injured while a guest in White-hursts’ home. She had entered the home through the front door, walked straight ahead, and fell as she stepped from the foyer into a sunken living room. Rice sued, claiming that a change in floor levels caused her to fall. However, she offered no expert testimony as to uncommon design or mode of construction.
There was evidence that the tile in both the foyer and adjacent room match. It is square, pink, and lined up to create continuity in the room. The grout joints also match up. There was also evidence that the Whitehursts had renovated the area by lengthening the foyer by about a foot, knocking down the adjoining walls, and laying tile in place of carpet. They then placed a pool table in the center of the room. Rice acknowledged that nothing was wrong with the lighting in this area.
Rice’s attorney acknowledged, in response to the motion for directed verdict, that there was no proof that this is an unusual mode of construction. The trial court correctly recognized that controlling case law mandated a directed verdict, citing Casby v. Flint, 520 So. 2d 281 (Fla.1988), Schoen v. Gilbert, 436 So. 2d 75 (Fla.1983), and Hoag v. Moeller, 82 So. 2d 138 (Fla.1955), as Rice had failed to present any evidence of uncommon design or mode of construction. The court stated:
This Court finds that simply laying tile in sequence in a square manner is not unusual and thus does not constitute an uncommon design or mode of construction. Furthermore, there was no evidence adduced that the tile in the [Whi-tehursts’] home was unusual in any manner, in either its design, construction or placement. The Court finds no disfunction [sic] between the common, sequential placement of tiles which [Rice] claims created an optical illusion in this case and the use of the same color carpet on dual floor levels which even coupled with dim lighting has been found to be insufficient to establish a dangerous condition.
A possessor of land has a duty to warn invitees of inherently dangerous conditions that are not obvious to them. See Casby, 520 So. 2d at 282. Generally, multiple floor levels do not create an inherently dangerous condition. Id.; Schoen, 436 So. 2d at 76; Hoag, 82 So. 2d at 139. See also Hadley v. Davjoy, Inc., 613 So. 2d 49 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992). However, an uncommon design or mode of construction creating a hidden danger that a prudent invitee would not anticipate may transform multiple floor levels into an inherently dangerous condition. Casby, 520 So. 2d at 282 (citing Kupperman v. Levine, 462 So. 2d 90 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985), and Northwest Fla. Crippled Children’s Assoc. v. Harigel, 479 So. 2d 831 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985)). See also Glanzberg v. Kauffman, 25 Fla. L. Weekly D1810, — So. 2d -, 2000 WL 1060494 (Fla. 4th DCA Aug.2, 2000).
Kupperman and Harigel provide examples of uncommon design or mode of con struction. Casby, 520 So. 2d at 282. In Kupperman, we recognized that a change in floor levels could constitute an inherently dangerous condition where the dining room table and chairs were centered over a change in level in the middle of the room, presenting the illusion of a level floor. 462 So. 2d at 91. There, the chairs’ backs and seats were of even height, but some of the chairs had longer legs to accommodate for the change in floor levels. Id. In Harigel, a customer stepped off a platform because the rack of clothes that she had been browsing through extended beyond the step-down and distracted her focus from the step. 479 So. 2d at 832-38.
Here, however, there is no evidence of uncommon design or mode of construction or an optical illusion comparable to that in Kupperman or Harigel. A directed verdict is appropriate where the defendant is under no duty to warn of multiple floor levels. See Schoen, 436 So. 2d at 76 (granting summary judgment where floor levels were of common design despite poor lighting at change in level); Hoag, 82 So. 2d at 138-39 (indicating that directed verdict would be proper where floor levels were of common design despite being same color). Therefore, the judgment is affirmed.
FARMER and SHAHOOD, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Reina I. Echevarria and Jorge Echevarria v. Lennar Homes, LLC, 306 So. 3d 327 (Fla. 3d DCA 2020)…n invitee”) (emphasis added). “However, an uncommon design or mode of construction creating a hidden danger that a prudent invitee would not anticipate may transform multiple floor levels into an inherently dangerous condition.” Rice v. Whitehurst, 778 So. 2d 1027, 1028 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001); Glanzberg v. Kauffman, 788 So. 2d 252, 254 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000) (“A plaintiff . . . can prove a dangerous condition by showing an uncommon design or mode of construction creates a hidden danger that a prudent invitee would…
-
Allen v. James and Gina Young, 807 So. 2d 704 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002)…required the Youngs to warn her, an invitee, should be determined by a jury. We disagree. A homeowner has no duty to warn a guest of a change in floor levels because multiple floor levels is not itself a dangerous condition. See Rice v. Whitehurst, 778 So. 2d 1027, 1028 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001). The recognized exceptions to this general principle are not applicable here. There is no testimony (expert or otherwise) to establish an uncommon design or mode of construction or that the layout created an “optical illusi…
Authorities Cited
- Schoen v. Gilbert, 436 So. 2d 75 (Fla. 1983)
- Casby v. Flint, 520 So. 2d 281 (Fla. 1988)
- Hoag v. Moeller, 82 So. 2d 138 (Fla. 1955)
- Nw. Fla. Crippled Child's. Ass'n v. Harigel, 479 So. 2d 831 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985)
- Kupperman v. Levine, 462 So. 2d 90 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985)
- Viksne v. Malda Viksne, 462 So. 2d 90 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985)
- Gore v. State, 613 So. 2d 49 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)
- Hadley v. Davjoy, Inc., 613 So. 2d 49 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992)