PATRICK M. ROBERTS, APPELLANT,
v.
219 SOUTH ATLANTIC BOULEVARD, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, D/B/A ATLANTIS, AND ALAN M. ROHLOFF, APPELLEES
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Patrick Roberts sued a restaurant/nightclub for negligence after being bitten by a dog owned by an independent contractor who worked on the premises. The Fourth District affirmed summary judgment for the restaurant, holding that the employer was not liable because the dog's presence was not within the scope of employment, provided no benefit to the employer, and the employer had no knowledge of vicious propensities.
The employer is not liable under the four-factor test established in Poling v. Peter R. Rylance, Inc. because: (1) bringing the dog to the premises was not within the scope of employment; (2) the employer received no benefit from the dog's presence; (3) the dog's presence had nothing to do with the contractor's maintenance duties; and (4) the employer had no knowledge of any vicious propensities of the animal.
[1] An employer is not liable for injuries caused by an employee's dog brought to the workplace if the dog's presence is not consented to or encouraged by the employer, is of…
[2] An employer's knowledge of an employee's dog's presence on the work premises does not, by itself, establish liability for injuries caused by the dog if the other elements…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“an employer is not liable for injury caused to a third party by his employee's dog if the bringing of the dog to the work site: 1) "is not consented to or encouraged by the employer," 2) is "of no benefit to the employer," 3) is "not within the scope of the employee's duties," and 4) "the employer has no knowledge of the vicious propensities of the animal."”
Establishes the four-factor test from Poling that governs employer liability for employee dog bites
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePatrick Roberts was bitten by Gretchen, a chocolate Labrador retriever owned by Alan Rohloff, as Roberts walked past Rohloff's truck parked at Atlanti…
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GROSS, J.
Patrick M. Roberts appeals the entry of a summary judgment entered in favor of 219 South Atlantic Boulevard, Inc. d/b/a Atlantis, a restaurant/nightclub. We affirm.
Roberts sued Atlantis for negligence arising out of a dog bite. The dog’s owner, Alan Rohloff, was an independent contractor who did maintenance work for Atlantis. As Roberts walked by Rohloffs pick-up truck, the dog stuck her head out of the truck window and bit Roberts on the shoulder. At the time of the incident, Rohloff had worked at Atlantis for two years and typically spent over 40 hours a week there; thus, for the purpose of our analysis here, he is indistinguishable from an employee. Rohloffs truck was leased by Atlantis and furnished to him as a job benefit. Atlantis management knew about the dog, a thirteen-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever named Gretchen, and never told Rohloff that he could not bring her when he worked on the premises. While at work, Rohloff often left Gretchen in the truck with the windows rolled down.
We have held that an employer is not liable for injury caused to a third party by his employee’s dog if the bringing of the dog to the work site: 1) “is not consented to or encouraged by the employer,” 2) is “of no benefit to the employer,” 3) is “not within the scope of the employee’s duties,” and 4) “the employer has no knowledge of the vicious propensities of the animal.” Poling v. Peter R. Rylance, Inc., 388 So. 2d 353 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980); see Dickson v. Graham-Jones Paper Co., 84 So. 2d 309 (Fla.1955).
In the light most favorable to Roberts, the non-moving party in the summary judgment, the evidence shows that while Atlantis had knowledge of Gretchen’s presence on the premises, the remaining inquiries identified in Poling must be answered in Atlantis’s favor. First, bringing Gretchen to the Atlantis premises was not within the scope of Roh-loffs employment. Rohloff was a maintenance man. His duties ranged from building bars and painting, to demolition. Gretchen’s presence on the property had nothing to do with Rohloffs duties as a contractor for Atlantis. Second, Atlantis received no benefit from Gretchen’s presence on the premises. Third, even assuming that Gretchen had vicious propensities, Atlantis did not have knowledge of them.
Roberts contends that Maher v. Best Western Inn, 717 So. 2d 97 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998), should control this case. In Maher, the fifth district held that an innkeeper which solicited guests with pets created a foreseeable zone of risk; the court noted “that dogs unaccustomed to each other, if unrestrained, could attack other dogs.” Id. at 99. This zone of risk imposed a duty on the innkeeper to protect its guests. Id.
Maher does not determine the result in this case. Atlantis is a restaurant/nightclub and not an innkeeper which invited dogs onto its premises. Atlantis did not solicit or cater to patrons with dogs.
Affirmed.
STONE and HAZOURI, JJ., concur.
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Martin v. Gulfstream Metal Plating, Inc., 977 So. 2d 688 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008)…only if the dog bite occurred on the property. We note that, even in the case of an attack by a vicious dog occurring on the property of a non-owner employer, we have held in favor of the landowner. In Roberts v. 219 South Atlantic Boulevard, Inc., 914 So. 2d 1108 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005), we concluded that summary judgment is properly granted to a landowner where the plaintiff was bitten by a contractor’s dog. There, the employer knew about the dog and had never told the owner/contractor (treated as employee) tha…
Authorities Cited
- Dickson v. Graham-Jones Paper Co., 84 So. 2d 309 (Fla. 1955)
- Maher v. Best Western INN, 717 So. 2d 97 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998)
- Poling v. Peter R. Rylance, Inc., 388 So. 2d 353 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980)