LEE CRUSE, APPELLANT,
v.
E. P. WILSON AND PAT HOPPER, TRADING AND DOING BUSINESS AS WILSON & HOPPER, 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.
A truck driver sued defendants for injuries from an accident caused by dense smoke obscuring his vision. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment dismissing the complaint, finding the plaintiff guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law, and rejected the plaintiff's challenge that the defendants failed to register under the fictitious name statute.
Summary judgment was proper because the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law—he had a duty to exercise care and stop when his vision was obscured by smoke, and he breached that duty. Additionally, a partnership name consisting merely of the surnames of the parties without initials or given names is not a fictitious name requiring registration under Florida law.
“One whose vision is obscured has a duty to exercise care under the circumstances and stop if necessary”
Establishes the legal standard for conduct when vision is impaired, supporting the contributory negligence finding.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePlaintiff overturned his truck while proceeding along a road when his vision was obscured by dense smoke. The defendants E. P. Wilson and Pat Hopper w…
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 Contributory Negligence As A Matter Of Law cases and more on FLexlaw
HOBSON, Justice.
This is an appeal by the plaintiff from summary final judgment dismissing his complaint.
The action was brought to recover for injuries and damage sustained when plaintiff overturned his truck in proceeding along a road when his vision was obscured by dense smoke. We have reviewed the record and are of the opinion, as the trial judge apparently was, that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law. One whose vision is obscured has a duty to exercise care under the circumstances and stop if necessary, Petroleum Carrier Corp. v. Robbins, Fla., 52 So. 2d 666; Mathers v. Botsford, 86 Fla. 40, 97 So. 282, 32 A.L.R. 881. It appears that the plaintiff breached this duty, and was negligent in having entered the dense smoke in the first place.
The only point raised on this appeal which we consider it necessary to discuss is the contention of appellant that the appellees, E. P. Wilson and Pat Hopper, doing business as Wilson & Hopper, were required to register under the fictitious name statute, F.S. § 865.09, F.S.A. In this statute it is provided in part:
“ 'Fictitious names’ shall include any trade name, whether a single name or a group of names, other than the proper name or known called names of those persons engaged in such business or professions.”
Appellant contends that even though the names of these appellees were in fact Wilson and Hopper, these names were fictitious within the meaning of the statute because they did not include the first or given names of the appellees.
This point has never before been decided in Florida, but in other jurisdictions under similar fictitious name statutes it seems to have been universally held that the usual form of a partnership name, consisting merely of the surname of the parties, without the initials or given names, joined by “&” or “and”, is not an assumed or fictitious name requiring registration under the statute. See the numerous cases cited for this proposition in Annotation, Doing Business Under Assumed Name, 42 A.L.R.2d 516, 558-560, supplementing the annotation on this subject at 45 A.L.R. 258. This result is required by logic as well as authority. Certainly the most positive and the simplest way for a person to designate himself is by the use of his own family name, and this cannot in any sense be called “fictitious.” It was not intended by the statute that a person doing business under his own surname should be required to register it.
Affirmed.
TERRELL, C. J., and DREW and THORNAL, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Walker v. Buckeye Cellulose Corp., 195 So. 2d 221 (Fla. 1st DCA 1967)…PER CURIAM. Affirmed on authority of Cruse v. Wilson, 92 So. 2d 270 (Fla.1957). WIGGINTON, Acting C. J., and JOHNSON and SPECTOR, JJ., concur.…
-
Aronovitz v. Stein Props., 322 So. 2d 74 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975)…; Mileage Realty Co. v. Miami Parking Garage, Inc., Fla.App.1962, 146 So. 2d 403; Cor-Gal Builders, Inc. v. Southard, Fla.App.1962, 136 So. 2d 244; see 1962 Op.Att’y Gen. 062-112, and 1957 Op.Att’y Gen. 057-283; and cf. Cruse v. Wilson, Fla. § 1957, 92 So. 2d 270. Secondly, appellant contends that a partnership cannot sue in its company or firm name, but must sue in the names of the individuals comprising it. As stated above, the complaint filed by appellees designated only “Stein Properties, a partnership”…
-
Huffman v. Peek, 102 So. 2d 641 (Fla. 2d DCA 1958)…hit the car and that is what I would still estimate that we were running. “Q. Well, have you changed your opinion about how fast you were running when you came to the last fog?A. Well, I don’t think so.” - In the case of Cruse v. Wilson, Fla.1957, 92 So. 2d 270, 271, the Supreme Court, in an opinion by Mr. Justice Hobson, said: “The action was brought to recover for injuries and damage sustained when plaintiff overturned his truck in [*644] proceeding along a road when his vision was obscured by dense smo…
Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Mathers v. Botsford, 86 Fla. 40 (Fla. 1923)
- Petroleum Carrier Corp. v. Robbins, 52 So. 2d 666 (Fla. 1951)