EVELYN WILFORD, APPELLANT,
v.
CITY OF JACKSONVILLE BEACH, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, APPELLEE
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The Florida Supreme Court affirmed a summary judgment for the city, holding that a municipality is not liable for the tortious acts of its police officers committed while performing a governmental function. This ruling reinforces established precedent in Florida law.
No, a municipal corporation is not liable for the tortious acts of its police officers committed as an incident to the exercise of a purely governmental function.
“Whatever the law may be elsewhere, it has long been established in this jurisdiction that a municipal corporation is not liable for the tortious acts of its police officers committed as incident to the exercise of a purely governmental function.”
This quote establishes the core legal principle the court applied to decide the case.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceEvelyn Wilford sued the City of Jacksonville Beach for injuries allegedly caused by the tortious acts of the city's police officers. It was admitted t…
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ROBERTS, Justice.
This is an appeal from a summary judgment in favor of the city, appellee here and defendant below, in a suit filed by the plaintiff-appellant to recover for injuries allegedly sustained by her as the result of the tortious acts of the city’s employees, who were police officers.
It is admitted that the police officers were acting in the performance of their duties as such and thus in the performance of a governmental function of the city. The acts by them which were alleged to be tortious need not be related, as we are of the opinion that, under the settled law of this court, no recovery may be had by the plaintiff. “Whatever the law may be elsewhere, it has long been established in this jurisdiction that a municipal corporation is not liable for the tortious acts of its police officers committed as incident to the exercise of a purely governmental function.” City of Miami v. Bethel, Fla., 1953, 65 So. 2d 34. See also Britt v. City of Ocala, Fla., 1953, 65 So. 2d 753; and Williams v. City of Green Cove Springs, Fla., 1953, 65 So. 2d 56.
No reversible error having been made to appear, the judgment appealed from should be and it is hereby
Affirmed.
MATHEWS, C. J., DREW, J., and PARKS, Associate Justice, concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Maloy v. City OF Mulberry, 80 So. 2d 609 (Fla. 1955)…Affirmed under the authority of City of Miami v. Bethel, Fla., 1953, 65 So. 2d 34; Britt v. City of Ocala, Fla., 1953, 65 So. 2d 753; Williams v. City of Green Cove Springs, Fla., 1953, 65 So. 2d 56; and Wilford v. City of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., 79 So. 2d 516. DREW, C. J., and TERRELL, SE-BRING, ROBERTS and THORNAL, JJ., concur. ' THOMAS and HOBSON, Jj., dissent.…
Authorities Cited
- City of Miami v. Bethel, 65 So. 2d 34 (Fla. 1953)
- Williams v. City of Green Cove Springs, 65 So. 2d 56 (Fla. 1953)
- Britt v. City of Ocala, 65 So. 2d 753 (Fla. 1953)
- State of Fla. on the relation of Gilbert Press v. Attwood, 65 So. 2d 753 (Fla. 1953)