RONALD B. CHRISTIE
v.
ELDORADO ESTATES, LLC, A FLORIDA LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, AND CASSANDRA DAWN BLACK, INDIVIDUALLY

Fla. 5th DCA | 2021-09-13
No. 20-2010
Rowe, III, J., Lambert, C.J., Cohen, J., Sasso, J.
Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2021)

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.


Holding

A landlord is not liable to third persons for injuries caused by a tenant's dog unless the landlord has actual knowledge of the dog's vicious nature or such knowledge can be imputed to the landlord.


Headnotes

[1] A landlord is not liable to third parties for injuries caused by a tenant's dog unless the landlord has actual knowledge of the dog's vicious nature or such knowledge can…

Previewing 1 of 1 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

Key Quotes

“It is well established that unless a landlord has actual knowledge of the vicious nature of a tenant's dog, or such knowledge can be imputed to the landlord . . . , there is no liability to third persons for injuries caused by the tenant's dog.”

Court citing Olave v. Howard, 547 So. 2d 349, 350 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)

Facts & Procedural History

Ronald B. Christie was injured by a dog and sued Eldorado Estates, LLC and Cassandra Dawn Black, the dog's owner. The trial court entered judgment aga…

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.


Opinion of the Court
Lambert

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA

FIFTH DISTRICT

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO

FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND

DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED

RONALD B. CHRISTIE, Appellant, v. Case No. 5D20-2010

ELDORADO ESTATES, LLC, A FLORIDA

LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, AND

CASSANDRA DAWN BLACK, INDIVIDUALLY, Appellees. ________________________________/ Opinion filed September 13, 2021 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Volusia County, Randell H. Rowe, III, Judge. Robert M. Brush and Timothy O. Coyle, of Brush & Coyle, P.A., Lakeland, for Appellant. Derek J. Angell, Joseph D. Tessitore, and Nicholas J. Mari, of Bell & Roper, P.A., Orlando, for Appellee, Eldorado Estates,

LLC.

No Appearance for Other Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

2

AFFIRMED. See Olave v. Howard, 547 So. 2d 349, 350 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989) (“It is well established that unless a landlord has actual knowledge of the vicious nature of a tenant’s dog, or such knowledge can be imputed to the landlord . . . , there is no liability to third persons for injuries caused by the tenant’s dog.” (quoting Bessent v. Matthews, 543 So. 2d 438, 439 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989))); Mayo v. Publix Super Mkts., Inc., 686 So. 2d 801, 802 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997) (reiterating “that a party’s internal rule does not itself fix the legal standard of care in a negligence action”).

LAMBERT, C.J., COHEN and SASSO, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw