DEAN S. CAMPBELL AND NONA O. CAMPBELL, HIS WIFE, APPELLANTS,
v.
CIEMENCE LEVY BELLMAN, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1974-03-26
No. 73-525
Before PEARSON, CARROLL and HAVERFIELD, JJ.
293 So. 2d 795 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1974) Positive Treatment
Cited by 14 cases

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Holding

A seller cannot avoid liability for breach of a contractual duty by hiring an independent contractor to perform that duty.


Headnotes

[1] A party who undertakes a specific contractual duty cannot avoid responsibility for injury resulting from the nonperformance of that duty by employing an independent contr…

[2] A seller's contractual obligation to provide a survey showing specific corner locations cannot be obviated by the employment of a surveyor.

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Facts & Procedural History

Appellants contracted to buy lots from appellee, with the contract requiring the seller to provide a survey showing lot corner locations. Appellants a…

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Opinion of the Court
PEARSON, Judge.

PEARSON, Judge.

The appellants contracted to purchase three lots from the appellee, Ciemence Levy Bellman. Since there was uncertainty as to location of the lots, the contract of sale provided that the “[sjeller is to provide survey showing four (4) corner locations for each lot referenced above”. It is alleged that the corner locations were wrong and appellants built a structure on a lot that they did not own. They then sued the seller for breach of contract and a summary final judgment was entered in favor of the seller. We reverse the summary judgment and remand for further proceedings.

Appellants’ original complaint was brought against not only the appellee Bellman, who was the seller of the lots, but against other defendants including the surveyor who had staked the lots. Suit is still pending against other defendants, but upon the motion of appellee Bellman, summary judgment dismissing her from the complaint was granted upon the ground that she was insulated from liability because the surveyor was an independent contractor. The appellees and presumably the trial court followed the theory that appellants’ cause of action was in tort for the negligence of the surveyor and therefore relied upon the long recognized general rule that an employer is not liable for the negligent acts of an independent contractor. See Gulf Refining Co. v. Wilkinson, 94 Fla. 664, 114 So. 503 (1927).

It was held in Ross v. Heitner, Fla.App.1963, 156 So. 2d 869, that the general rule is subject to exceptions, including the exception that inherently dangerous work of an employed independent contractor may leave the employer liable. In Easton v. Weir, Fla.App.1960, 125 So. 2d 115, the exceptions to the general rule were held to apply to a landlord’s assumed repair of a roof upon the ground that such labor was inherently dangerous.

The question of whether the negligent performance of an independent contractor can insulate a contracting party from liability under the contract is not new in the state of Florida. In Mills v. Krauss, Fla. App.1959, 114 So. 2d 817, the District Court of Appeal, Second District, discussed a contractor’s liability for the negligent performance of an independent subcontractor. The court held:

“In some circumstances duties may devolve upon an employer which he cannot delegate to another, and in such cases the employer is liable for breach or nonperformance of such duties even though he employs an independent contractor to do the work.”

The court further stated :

“Dealing with nonperformance of absolute duties of an employer and with reference to contractual obligations, the following is said in 27 Am.Jur., Independent Contractors, section 48, at page 526:
‘Likewise, one who, by a specific agreement, undertakes to do some particular thing, or to do it in a certain manner, cannot by employing an independent contractor, avoid responsibility for a injury resulting from the nonperformance of any duty or duties which, under the express terms of the agreement or by implication of law, are assumed by the undertaker.’ ”

There remains the question of whether the general rule or an exception thereto applies in this case. We think that the holding in Mills v. Krauss, supra, clearly indicates that in an obligation such as that assumed by the appellee-seller here, the contractual duty assumed may not be obviated by the employment of a surveyor. The occupation of land surveyor is recognized and and regulated in the state of Florida. See chapter 472, Fla.Stat, F. S.A.

Section 472.01(3) generally defines land surveyor as one who resurveys or traces on the ground lines and subdivisions surveyed at a previous date by himself or other land surveyors. There is nothing in this chapter nor do we find any Florida case law indicating that the occupation of land surveyor is vested with any special considerations. Ordinarily, a land survey-or is an employee. The fact that the same work may be done by an independent contractor who hires the land surveyor as an employee does not place the work done in any special category. We therefore conclude that a seller is not always exempt from liability for breach of a contract provision simply because he passed that duty on to a land surveyor.

We hold that the trial court’s reliance upon the general rule in tort cases was mistaken in this instance because it appears from the facts of this case as well as the amended complaint that as to appel-lee Bellman appellants sought to establish a breach of the contract of sale. A review of the deposition and the exhibits in this file does not demonstrate that such an action cannot be maintained.

Therefore, the summary judgment must be reversed. See Posey v. Pensacola Tractor & Equipment Company, Fla.App.1962, 138 So. 2d 777.

Reversed and remanded.


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Cited By

  • City OF Coral Gables v. Prats, 502 So. 2d 969 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987)
    …iami, 474 So. 2d 239 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985), review denied, 484 So. 2d 10 (Fla.1986); Fisherman’s Paradise; Levitz Furniture Co. v. Continental Equities, Inc., 411 So. 2d 221 (Fla. 3d DCA), review denied, 419 So. 2d 1196 (Fla.1982); Campbell v. Bellman, 293 So. 2d 795 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974); Mills v. Krauss, 114 So. 2d 817 (Fla. 2d DCA 1959), cert. denied, 119 So. 2d 293 (Fla.1960). The contract between the City and DOT expressly imposed on the City a nondelegable duty to protect the public from any “trip and fall” h…
  • Fisherman's Paradise, Inc. v. Greenfield, 417 So. 2d 306 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982)
    …uth, Inc. v. Hill York Sales Corp., 312 So. 2d 512 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975). Non-delegable duties may result from contractual obligations. Irving v. Doctors Hospital of Lake Worth, Inc., 415 So. 2d 55 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982) [7 FLW 1179]; Campbell v. Bellman, 293 So. 2d 795 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974); Mills v. Krauss, 114 So. 2d 817 (Fla. 2d DCA 1959), cert. denied, 119 So. 2d 293 (Fla.1960); see also Easton v. Weir, 125 So. 2d 115 (Fla. 2d DCA 1960), cert. denied, 129 So. 2d 141 (Fla.1961) (landlord assumed duty to replace ro…
  • Metrolimo, Inc. v. Lamm, 666 So. 2d 552 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995)
    …the joint venture partners. The joint venture and joint venture partners could not, by subcontracting, exonerate themselves from liability. See Fisherman’s Paradise, Inc. v. Greenfield, 417 So. 2d 306, 307-08 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); Campbell v. Bellman, 293 So. 2d 795, 796 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974); cf. Hamid v. Metro Limo, Inc., 619 So. 2d 321 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993) (liability of licensee or franchisee). The joint venture and joint venture partners are liable for the negligent acts of the driver. Metrolimo next argues tha…

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