LUCY L. COHN, APPELLANT,
v.
FLORIDA NATIONAL BANK AT ORLANDO, A NATIONAL BANKING ASSOCIATION, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1969-06-13
No. 2393
WALDEN, C. J., and OWEN, J., concur.
223 So. 2d 767 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1969) Positive Treatment
Cited by 30 cases

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Synopsis

Lucy Cohn sued Florida National Bank after slipping and falling on a wet parking lot sealed with asphalt sealer. The trial court granted the defendant's motion for directed verdict on liability, and the appellate court affirmed the liability ruling but reversed and remanded the case on the issue of improperly assessed costs.


Holding

The trial court properly directed a verdict for the defendant on the liability issue because there was insufficient evidence that the sealer created a dangerous condition. However, the court erred in assessing certain costs, particularly deposition costs for medical witnesses who were not called and hospital records not used at trial, which should not be taxable when the issue they served was not tried.


Key Quotes

“There is nothing in the above or elsewhere in the record to indicate that the sealer was applied wrongfully or that its being placed upon the lot for the use of invitees was a negligent act.”

Establishes that the plaintiff failed to present evidence of negligent application of the sealer, supporting the directed verdict on liability.

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Facts & Procedural History

On February 15, 1966, Cohn, a business invitee at the bank, slipped and fell on the wet parking lot which had been sealed with asphalt sealer approxim…

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Opinion of the Court
MORROW, RUSSELL O., Associate Judge.

MORROW, RUSSELL O., Associate Judge.

On February 15, 1966, Lucy Cohn, appellant-plaintiff, was a business invitee upon the premises of the Florida National Bank at Orlando, the defendant-appellee. It had been raining and the bank’s parking lot was wet. The appellant proceeded across the lot into the bank without incident. Upon leaving the bank to return to her car she took a few steps into the parking lot and slipped and fell.

One year prior to the accident a sealer had been placed upon the asphalt parking *768lot to protect it from weather and deterioration from petroleum products. Appellant testified that after the fall there was a black gummy substance on her boot and raincoat which had not been present before the fall.

Appellant’s expert witness was asked if he ran a test to compare whatever was on the boot with the lot sealer to see if it was the same stuff. He answered, “No, I did not.” He was also asked, “Are you able to determine whether or not that particular sealer that was put on there was or was not slippery?” He answered, “Not from the investigation I conducted. It’s possible but I didn’t go into that at length.” The witness further testified that he did not have any experience in his profession as to whether or not one particular sealer is more slippery than any other. It was his engineering recommendation that sealers not be used on pedestrian lots on asphalt.

There was no testimony that the defendant had actual knowledge of a dangerous condition.

The plaintiff contends that the application of the sealer to the parking lot created a dangerous condition which constituted a latent defect or hidden trap and which had existed long enough to charge the defendant with knowledge.

There is nothing in the above or elsewhere in the record to indicate that the sealer was applied wrongfully or that its being placed upon the lot for the use of invitees was a negligent act.1 There is no evidence that the sealer was dangerously slippery when wet. The recommendations of the expert that sealer not be used or that sand be used in the sealer for pedestrian walkways, is not evidence that the sealer in question was dangerous or that the parking lot was not a reasonably safe place on which to walk. It should here be pointed out that the expert did not analyze the parking lot sealer as to sand content.

The issue of liability was tried first and at the close of the plaintiff’s case on said issue, the trial judge granted defendant’s motion for a directed verdict from which this appeal was taken.

The question of whether the issue of liability should have gone to the jury was correctly determined by the trial judge and we find no error in the verdict as directed. See Swilley v. Economy Cab Co. of Jacksonville, Fla.1951, 56 So.2d 914.

The remaining question pertains to the assessment of costs. In this area the lower court has reasonable discretion. However, the issue of damages was not tried and certain costs pertaining to this issue were assessed.

Costs of depositions are taxable if they serve a useful purpose, even though not offered into evidence. Lockwood v. Test, Fla.App. 1964, 160 So.2d 142. The medical witnesses were not called and the costs of their depositions would not be taxable, in that the issue being served thereby was not tried.

Fees for necessary witnesses who are subpoenaed and attend court, but not actually examined, are taxable. 20 C.J.S. Costs § 227. Fees for a witness who has not attended court to testify cannot be taxed as costs. In re First Bond & Mortgage Co., 5 Cir.1935, 74 F.2d 930; 20 C.J.S. Costs § 231. The cost of hospital records not used in trial or introduced in evidence is not taxable. Cf. Loftin v. Anderson, Fla. 1953, 66 So.2d 470.

We find error in the assessing of costs. This case is remanded to the lower court for the assessing of costs in conformity herewith.

Affirmed, in part; reversed, in part.

WALDEN, C. J., and OWEN, J., concur.


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Citator

Cited By (15 total)

  • White v. Means, 280 So. 2d 20 (Fla. 1st DCA 1973)
    …. The rule is well established in Florida that, in the absence of a statutory provision, the award of costs rests in the sound judicial discretion of the trial court. White v. Walker, 5 Fla. 478 (Fla.1854), Cohn v. Florida National Bank at Orlando, 223 So. 2d 767 (Fla.App.1969). We hold that, under the quoted statute, it is within the trial court’s discretion to assess court costs against the defendant, but we are not prepared to hold that the court abused its discretion in denying the plaintiff’s motion fo…
  • …ncerning the assessment of deposition costs make no distinction between originals and copies. They refer only to “costs of deposition” and hold that such costs are taxable if they serve a useful purpose. See Cohn v. Florida National Bank at Orlando, 223 So. 2d 767 (Fla. 4 DCA 1969); Buyer Finance Corporation v. Oliveros, 196 So. 2d 451 (Fla. 3 DCA 1967); Lockwood v. Test, 160 So. 2d 142 (Fla. 2 DCA 1964). It is not at all clear that the Supreme Court in Florida Greyhound Lines v. Jones, supra, intended that…
  • PAN Am. Bancshares, Inc. v. Trask, 278 So. 2d 313 (Fla. 3d DCA 1973)
    …thin the special province of the trial judge. The fourth point urges error in the assessment of costs, but we find that the allowance of the items noted was within the court’s discretion. Cf. Cohn v. Florida National Bank at Orlando, Fla.App. 1969, 223 So. 2d 767. Appellant’s fifth and final point claims that the jury verdict was a compromise verdict and that the court erred in failing to set aside the verdict. Appellant has failed to show any fact indicating a compromise verdict except that the verdict was…

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