HOLTON
v.
CITY OF BARTOW
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A wrongful death plaintiff appealed the dismissal of a negligence complaint against the City of Bartow arising from a fatal traffic accident allegedly caused by a defective traffic signal. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal, holding that municipalities are immune from tort liability for negligent maintenance of traffic signals because such maintenance is a governmental function.
The complaint does not state a valid cause of action because municipal corporations are immune from tort liability for negligent acts of their officers committed in the exercise of purely governmental functions, and the maintenance of traffic light systems is classified as a governmental function.
“a municipal corporation "is not liable for the tortious acts of its * * * officers committed as incident to the exercise of a purely governmental function."”
Establishes the core principle of municipal immunity that controls the case
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceJohn Craig died in a traffic collision at a Bartow street intersection where the traffic signal had been malfunctioning for approximately one day. Cra…
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SEBRING, Justice.
The plaintiff below has appealed from an order granting a motion to dismiss the complaint.
The allegations of the complaint are that one John Craig-died as the result of injuries received in ’an accident that happened at a street intersection in Bartow, Florida, where the stop and caution signals facing south had been out of order for about one day. ' It is alleged that Craig approached the intersection from the south at approximately the same time that a truck was approaching from the west. As Craig drove up to the intersection the traffic light was green for his lane of travel. As he got into the intersection the light suddenly changed from green to red without first showing the yellow caution signal, and at the same moment, the-light for west and east travel changed from red to green without an intervening yellow caution signal. As the result, the truck traveling east did not stop but drove on into the intersection and ran into the car operated 'by Craig. It is further alleged that the City of Bartow, through its agents, had ample knowledge of the defective condition of the light, so that if reasonable care had been exercised the light could have been regulated and would have been operating properly at the time of the collision.
The sole question is whether this complaint stated á cause of action for which relief could be granted.
In Avey v. City of West Palm Beach, 152 Fla. 717, 12 So. 2d 881, a.negligence action, it is held that the maintenance of a traffic light system by a municipality is a governmental function; and the rule is that a municipal corporation “is not liable for the tortious acts of its * * * officers committed as incident to the exercise of a purely governmental function.” City of Miami v. Bethel, Fla., 65 So. 2d 34, and cases cited; Avey v. City of West Palm Beach, supra. Immunity under this doctrine is predicated squarely on the governmental character of the municipal activity involved, and not upon the nature of the alleged tort. 38 Am.-Jur., Mun.Corp., sec. 572-575. The decision first above cited is therefore controlling in the disposition of this appeal, see also Edwards v. City of Shreveport, La.App., 66 So. 2d 373, and no consideration need be given to the question of the propriety of this suit in the first instance under sec. 768.01, Florida Statutes 1951, F.S.A. Compare Williams v. City of Green Cove Springs, Fla., 65 So. 2d 56; City of St. Petersburg v. Carter, Fla., 39 So. 2d 804.
The judgment appealed from should he affirmed.
It is so ordered.
ROBERTS, C. J., and MATHEWS and DREW, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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The City OF Tampa v. Davis, 226 So. 2d 450 (Fla. 2d DCA 1969)…ee, e. g., Evanoff v. City of St. Peters-burg (Fla.App.2d 1966), 186 So. 2d 68; Thompson v. City of Jacksonville (Fla.App.1st 1961), 130 So. 2d 105; and Hewitt v. Venable (Fla.App.3d 1959), 109 So. 2d 185. . See Holton v. City of Bartow (Fla.1953), 68 So. 2d 385. . We must assume, from the context in which the court made the pronouncement, that it was talking about all agents and employees of the municipality. . (3Tla.App.3d 1963), 155 So. 2d 829. . (3Tla.App.3d 1964), 160 So. 2d 57. . (3Tla.App.3d 1964…
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Gordon v. City OF W. Palm Beach, 321 So. 2d 78 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975)…devices such as stop signs, automatic traffic lights, etc., is a governmental function in the exercise of which the municipality is not liable. Avey v. City of West Palm Beach, 152 Fla. 717, 12 So. 2d 881 (1943); Holton v. City of Bartow, Fla.1953, 68 So. 2d 385; Raven v. Coates, Fla.App.1961, 125 So. 2d 770. For reasons of harmony, the foregoing cases must be distinguished from the sort of case which demonstrates the existence of that privity or direct relationship between a plaintiff and a city officer wh…
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Alvina Ann Raven and John Raven v. Nancie Boughner Coates and David Owen Coates, 125 So. 2d 770 (Fla. 3d DCA 1961)…or had collapsed, therefore endangering the lives and property-of all motor vehicle operators on East Third Avenue, in the City of Hialeah, Florida at this particular intersection and at this particular time.” In Holton v. City of Bartow, Fla.1953, 68 So. 2d 385, and Avey v. City of West Palm Beach, 152 Fla. 717, 12 So. 2d 881, it was held that a municipality was not liable for the torts growing out of the maintenance of a traffic control system because such was a purely governmental function. Subsequently,…
Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- City of St. Petersburg v. Carter, 39 So.2d 804 (Fla. 1949)
- Avey v. City OF W. Paim Beach, 152 Fla. 717 (Fla. 1943)
- City of Miami v. Bethel, 65 So. 2d 34 (Fla. 1953)
- Williams v. City of Green Cove Springs, 65 So. 2d 56 (Fla. 1953)