MILTON WINTER, APPELLANT,
v.
MIAMI BEACH HEALTHCARE GROUP, LTD., D/B/A AVENTURA HOSPITAL & MEDICAL CENTER, ETC., ET AL., 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.
The court held that a trial court must consider only the allegations within the four corners of the complaint when ruling on a motion to dismiss, and the record was insufficient for summary judgment.
Plaintiff appealed the dismissal of his complaint against a hospital for negligent spoliation of evidence related to a removed pacemaker. The dismissa…
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 Four Corners Rule cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
Milton Winter appeals an order of the court below dismissing a complaint brought by him against Aventura Hospital & Medical Center. The complaint asserts various product liability claims against Biotronik, Inc., the manufacturer of an allegedly defective pacemaker, implanted in Winter and removed from his body at Aventura Hospital. The hospital was joined as a defendant upon a single count, alleging negligent spoliation of evidence based upon Aventura’s disposal of the pacemaker after it was removed. The dismissal was based upon the representation of counsel for Aventura in the motion to dismiss that the disposal occurred before any legal duty arose to maintain it. We reverse.
“A trial court when considering a motion to dismiss must look only to the four corners of the complaint including the attachments; and the allegations contained therein should be taken as true without regard to the pleader’s ability to prove them.” Coriat v. Global Assurance Group, Inc., 862 So. 2d 743, 743 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003); Solorzano v. First Union Mortg. Corp., 896 So. 2d 847, 850 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005) (holding that “when ruling on a motion to dismiss, a trial court may not speculate whether a complaint’s allegations will ultimately be provable”). In this case, the trial court looked beyond the four corners of the complaint in granting the motion.
Even if we were to treat the motion as a motion for summary judgment, but see Holland v. Anheuser Busch, Inc., 643 So. 2d 621, 623 n. 2 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994) (holding that a motion to dismiss may be treated as a motion for summary judgment only in limited circumstances), the record is as yet insufficiently complete to support such a motion.
Reversed.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Metro. Cas. Ins. Co. v. Tepper, 969 So. 2d 403 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007)…ourt erred in “looking beyond the four corners” of Tepper’s complaint. As a general rule, a trial court may not consider matters outside the four corners of the complaint in deciding a motion to dismiss. Winter v. Miami Beach Healthcare Group, Ltd., 917 So. 2d 973 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005). However, we find Metropolitan has waived this argument. There is no indication that this issue was ever presented to the trial court. (It clearly was not raised in Metropolitan’s four-page motion for rehearing.) Furthermore, Metr…
-
King v. Baptist Hosp. OF Miami, Inc., 87 So. 3d 39 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012)…relationship sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss. In considering a motion to dismiss, the allegations in a complaint should be taken as true without regard to the pleader’s ability to prove them. Winter v. Miami Beach Healthcare Group, Ltd., 917 So. 2d 973, 974 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005). The court should look no further than the complaint and its attachments. Golden Gate Homes, LC v. Levey, 59 So. 3d 275, 282 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011). The record here supports King’s position in her amended complaint that she demo…
-
Jester v. Pawley, 245 So. 3d 859 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)…ciency of a complaint to state a cause of action, it applies the so-called ‘four corners rule,’” by which “the court’s review is limited to an examination solely of the complaint and its attachments”); Winter v. Miami Beach Healthcare Grp., Ltd., 917 So. 2d 973, 974 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005) (holding: “A trial court, when considering a motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action, “must look only to the four corners of the complaint including the attachments; and the allegations contained therein s…
Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Holland v. Anheuser Busch, Inc., 643 So. 2d 621 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994)
- Gavi Solorzano v. First Union Mortg. Corp., 896 So. 2d 847 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005)
- Coriat v. Global Assurance Grp., Inc, 862 So. 2d 743 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003)