MARGARET TRUMPE, ETC., ET AL., APPELLANTS,
v.
CITY OF CORAL SPRINGS, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Plaintiffs appealed the trial court's dismissal of a wrongful death action arising from a vehicle accident where the decedent drove into a canal at a T-intersection. The court reversed, holding that municipalities have a duty to keep streets in reasonably safe condition and warn of known dangerous conditions, and that this duty is a proprietary rather than governmental function not protected by immunity.
The court held that municipalities are not entitled to governmental immunity for the construction, maintenance, and repair of city streets, as these are proprietary functions, and municipalities have a duty to keep streets in reasonably safe condition and warn of known dangerous conditions.
[1] A municipality has a duty to warn motorists of known dangerous conditions on its streets, including the presence of a canal abutting a T intersection.
[2] The construction and maintenance of city streets is a proprietary function, not a governmental one, and a municipality may be held liable for negligence in its exercise.
Previewing 2 of 4 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“the construction, maintenance, and repair of city streets is a proprietary as opposed to a governmental function and concluded that a municipality's liability for negligence in the exercise of proprietary functions was in no way affected by the Supreme Court's decision in Hargrove v. Town of Cocoa Beach”
Establishes that street maintenance is proprietary, not governmental, and thus immunity does not apply to negligence liability.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAstrid Kissell drove her vehicle north on Coral Ridge Drive in Coral Springs during darkness. The street dead-ended into Wiles Road, with a deep canal…
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DOWNEY, Judge.
It appears from appellants’ second amended complaint that appellants’ decedent, Astrid Kissell, drove her car north on Coral Ridge Drive in the City of Coral Springs during hours of darkness. Coral Ridge Drive dead ends into Wiles Road which runs east and west. There is a deep canal on the north side of Wiles Road running parallel to it. On the evening in question Mrs. Kissell drove her car across the intersection into said canal and drowned. The aforesaid complaint alleged that the intersection in question was a dangerous one requiring the appellee to warn motorists using Coral Ridge Drive that the road ended abruptly and that there was a canal just beyond the terminus of that road. Finally, it alleged that the appellee breached its duty to warn of such dangerous condition.
To the second amended complaint appellee directed a motion for judgment on the pleadings on the ground of governmental immunity. The trial court granted said motion and entered final judgment for appellee, stating that there was no duty existing between appellee and appellants’ decedent and that the appellee was protected by governmental immunity. We reverse because we do not think that the trial court’s conclusions apply to this case. See Gordon v. City of West Palm Beach, Fla.App., 321 So. 2d 78, opinion filed October 10, 1975, wherein this court recognized that the construction, maintenance, and repair of city streets is a proprietary as opposed to a governmental function and concluded that a municipality’s liability for negligence in the exercise of proprietary functions was in no way affected by the Supreme Court’s decision in Hargrove v. Town of Cocoa Beach, Fla.1957, 96 So. 2d 130, or Modlin v. City of Miami Beach, Fla.1967, 201 So. 2d 70.
In addition, we note that it has long been held that a municipality has a duty to persons using its streets to keep those streets in a reasonably safe condition and to warn persons using its streets of known dangerous conditions. Town pf Palm Beach v. Hovey, 115 Fla. 644, 155 So. 808 (1934); City of Hialeah v. Revels, Fla.App.1960, 123 So. 2d 400. The Revels case involved a factual setting very similar to that described here. The city was held liable in that case for failure to warn motorists of the presence of a canal abutting a T intersection. See also Christenson v. Village of Hibbing, 219 Minn. 141, 16 N.W. 2d 881 (1944).
Since a voluntary dismissal was taken as to the defendant Sunshine Drainage District, Count II is no longer a part of the second amended complaint. However, 'said count contains allegations of ultimate fact which should be contained in Count I to state a good cause of action against the city. Accordingly, we feel the justice of the cause requires that on remand appellants be given a further opportunity to amend their complaint. Baird v. Continental Insurance Company, Fla.App.1970, 237 So. 2d 206.
Reversed and remanded.
WALDEN, C. J., and SILVERTOOTH, LYNN N., Associate Judge, concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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Cheney v. Dade Cnty., 353 So. 2d 623 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977)…ty to persons using its streets to keep those streets in a reasonably safe condition and to warn persons using the streets of known dangerous conditions. Town of Palm Beach v. Hovey, 115 Fla. 644, 155 So. 808 (1934); Trumpe v. City of Coral Springs, 326 So. 2d 192 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976); City of Hialeah v. Revels, 123 So. 2d 400 (Fla. 3d DCA 1960). The same policy reasons prompting recognition of such a duty apply with equal force to imposing a similar duty on the county to properly maintain its traffic control…
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Welsh v. Metro. Dade Cnty., 366 So. 2d 518 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979)…y to a person using its streets to keep those streets in a reasonably safe condition and to warn persons using the streets of known dangerous conditions. Town of Palm Beach v. Hovey, 115 Fla. 644, 155 So. 808 (1934); Trumpe v. City of Coral Springs, 326 So. 2d 192 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976); City of Hialeah v. Revels, 123 So. 2d 400 (Fla. 3d DCA 1960). We see no reason why this line of cases should not apply to a county as to post-waiver of sovereign immunity cases. Just as a municipality is responsible to a person…
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City OF Tamarac v. Garchar, 398 So. 2d 889 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981)…v. Manning, 288 So. 2d 289 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974); Brinson v. City of [*894] Mulberry, 104 Fla. 248, 139 So. 792 (1932). Clearly, a general duty on the part of a municipality does exist with respect to roadside hazards. Trumpe v. City of Coral Springs, 326 So. 2d 192 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976), cert. denied, 336 So. 2d 599 (Fla.1976). Appellant also argues that the street in question had actually been constructed by the County and relies upon Nobles v. City of Jacksonville, 265 So. 2d 550 (Fla. 1st DCA 1972); cert. de…
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
- Ervine Hargrove v. Town OF Cocoa Beach, 96 So. 2d 130 (Fla. 1957)
- Modlin v. The City OF Miami Beach, 201 So. 2d 70 (Fla. 1967)
- Gordon v. City OF W. Palm Beach, 321 So. 2d 78 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975)
- Town of Palm Beach v. Hovey, 115 Fla. 644 (Fla. 1934)
- Royal Carraway v. Revell, 123 So. 2d 400 (Fla. 1st DCA 1959)
- Baird v. The Cont'l Ins. Co., 237 So. 2d 206 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970)