MARION LUBELL, PETITIONER,
v.
ROMAN SPA, INC., ET AL., RESPONDENTS

Fla. | 1978-06-30
No. 50083
ADKINS and SUNDBERG, JJ., and MASON, Circuit Judge (Retired), concur., ENGLAND, J., dissents with an opinion., OVERTON, C. J., and ALDERMAN, J., dissent.
362 So. 2d 922 Florida Supreme Court (1978) Positive Treatment
Cited by 14 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court reversed the District Court of Appeal's decision that freed Roman Spa from liability for a patron's injuries caused by a ceiling collapse. The Court held that the District Court misapplied precedent by finding the defect was not discoverable by inspection when evidence in the record suggested it may have been discoverable.


Holding

The Court held that the District Court misapplied Slavin v. Kay by finding the defect was not discoverable by inspection when evidence in the record indicated the defect may have been discoverable. There was no rule of law compelling the district court to disturb the jury's evaluation of the evidence regarding the Spa's liability, and the liability judgment against the Spa should be reinstated.


Headnotes

[1] A prior judicial decision does not serve as controlling precedent when the facts of the current case are materially different.

[2] A jury's evaluation of evidence regarding a party's liability should not be disturbed if there is no rule of law compelling such a disturbance.

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Key Quotes

“The decision should not have served as precedent because this case contains materially different facts.”

Establishes that the District Court misapplied prior precedent due to material factual differences, giving the Supreme Court jurisdiction.

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Facts & Procedural History

Marion Lubell was injured when a ceiling at Roman Spa collapsed due to defective construction by Connors Construction Company, which had improperly at…

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Opinion of the Court
BOYD, Justice.

BOYD, Justice.

In this case the District Court of Appeal, First District, applied an earlier decision as controlling precedent. The decision should not have served as precedent because this case contains materially different facts. Such a “misapplication of law” generates conflict1 between the two decisions and gives us jurisdiction.2

The facts of the case appear in the opinion3 of the District Court. The case proceeded in this way. Marion Lubell, a patron in the Roman Spa, was injured when a “false” ceiling, constructed by Connors Construction Company, collapsed. She brought suit against the Spa and, in turn, the Spa filed a third party complaint against Connors for indemnification. In the main action, the jury found the Spa liable for negligence and returned a verdict for Lubell of $25,000 in damages. In the indemnity action, the jury returned a verdict for Connors. A consolidated final judgment in keeping with the jury determinations was rendered and the Spa appealed, attacking the verdicts on both liability and indemnification.

The District Court held that the trial court erred in failing to grant the Spa’s motion for a directed verdict at the close of the evidence. In so holding the court relied on Slavin v. Kay, 108 So. 2d 462 (Fla.1959). In the course of the Slavin opinion, this Court had stated that the rule freeing contractors from liability for injuries resulting from their defective work, when the work had been turned over to the owner, did not apply “where the dangerous condition is not discoverable by [the owner’s] inspection.” Slavin, at 466. The district court used the Slavin language to free the Spa from liability because the cause of the ceiling’s collapse was that Connors, instead of strapping metal laths to two-by-fours in the ceiling had improperly attached them with smooth shank nails, a defect not discoverable by the Spa’s inspection.

To the contrary, there was evidence in the record which indicated that the defect may have been discoverable by inspection. This evidence: approval of the plan for the ceiling by the Spa’s maintenance supervisor, the supervisor’s observance of some of the construction, and his acceptance of the completed work following inspection; is mentioned in the court’s opinion. There is other evidence4 in the record which indicated that the Spa may have breached the duty of care it owed Lubell and that the breach proximately caused her injuries. There was no rule of law to compel the district court to disturb the jury’s evaluation of the evidence as to the Spa’s liability and it was incorrect to do so.

The decision that the Spa was not liable made it unnecessary for the Court to consider the challenge to the indemnity verdict. That issue has not been properly briefed or argued here. The cause is remanded with directions for the district court to consider the points on appeal originally raised against the indemnity verdict and to reinstate the liability judgment against the Spa.

It is so ordered.

ADKINS and SUNDBERG, JJ., and MASON, Circuit Judge (Retired), concur. ENGLAND, J., dissents with an opinion.

OVERTON, C. J., and ALDERMAN, J., dissent.

. Wale v. Barnes, 278 So. 2d 601, 604 (Fla. 1973).

. Art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla.Const. . Roman Spa, Inc. v. Lubell, 334 So. 2d 298 (Fla.App.1976).

. For example, that the Spa didn’t take sufficient precaution to protect its patrons when it should have known the collapse might occur due to pile driving in the vicinity.

Dissent
ENGLAND, Justice,

ENGLAND, Justice,

dissenting.

There is no constitutional “direct conflict” between the district court’s decision below and our decision in Slavin v. Kay, 108 So. 2d 462 (Fla.1959). The Court’s decision today extends our review of district court decisions to its farthest reaches and, so far as I can discern, obliterates any vestige of finality in the district courts.

In Slavin, this Court articulated a rule of law concerning non-discoverable dangerous conditions in negligence lawsuits. The Court then, sitting as the first and only appellate tribunal,1 reviewed the evidence adduced at trial to determine whether directed verdicts were properly entered against the defendants.

The district court in this case tested the legal principle announced in Slavin against facts adduced by the plaintiff to determine whether defendant’s motion for a directed verdict should have been granted. Naturally, the facts in this case are somewhat different from the facts in Slavin, but what two cases are ever precisely alike? If a district court’s performance of its standard appellate review function is to be considered a “misapplication of law” every time factual variations produce a different legal consequence for litigants, as perhaps Wale v. Barnes2 suggests, then I believe we have now reached the point that, for purposes of our “conflict” jurisdiction under Article V, Section 3(b)(3), this Court will re-review all trials in Florida to perform for all litigants the same function which I had thought was assigned not only initially but exclusively to the district courts.

One need only examine the majority’s opinion in this case to see that it has done nothing more than disagree with the district court as to the quantity (or quality) of the evidence of discoverability adduced at trial. The Slavin doctrine survives today’s decision intact — it simply does not operate for this defendant’s benefit. Absolutely no new rule of law can be discerned from the Court’s decision today; indeed, the majority’s opinion wholly lacks any discussion of law. The majority, I submit, simply disagrees with the district court’s evaluation of plaintiff’s evidence.

I dissent, once again,3 on jurisdictional grounds. We are no longer either the first or only court of appellate review in Florida, as we were before the existence of district courts, and we pervert Article V of the Constitution to behave as if we are. Today’s decision sets us backward 20 years. We should discharge the writ of certiorari as having been improvidently granted.

. That litigation preceded formation of the district courts of appeal.

. 278 So. 2d 601 (Fla.1973).

. National Airlines, Inc. v. Edwards, 336 So. 2d 545, 547 (Fla.1976) (England, J., dissenting).


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Citator

Cited By

  • Easterday v. Masiello, 518 So. 2d 260 (Fla. 1988)
    …this case. We reiterate, as we did [*261] in Edward M. Chadbourne, Inc. v. Vaughn, 491 So. 2d 551 (Fla.1986), that Sla-vin is still good law. The legal principle of Slavin has been consistently followed by the courts. See Lubell v. Roman Spa, Inc., 362 So. 2d 922 (Fla.1978); Green Springs, Inc. v. Calvera, 239 So. 2d 264 (Fla.1970); Mai Kai, Inc. v. Colucci, 205 So. 2d 291 (Fla.1967); Jackson v. L.A.W. Contracting Corp., 481 So. 2d 1290 (Fla. 5th DCA), review denied, 492 So. 2d 1333 (Fla.1986); Birch v. Cape…
  • Marriott Int'l, Inc. v. Zaira Perez-Melendez, 855 So. 2d 624 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003)
    …la. 1st DCA 1992); Walt Disney World Co. v. Goode, 501 So. 2d 622 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986); Jackson v. Williams, 385 So. 2d 190 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980); Russell v. Jacksonville Gas Corp., 117 So. 2d 29 (Fla. 1st DCA 1960); see also Lubell v. Roman Spa, Inc., 362 So. 2d 922 (Fla.1978); Selvin v. DMC Regency Residence, Ltd., 807 So. 2d 676, 682 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001); Sanderson v. Eckerd Corp., 780 So. 2d 930, 933 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001) (“While the question of whether a duty exists is a question of law for the court to decide…
  • Page v. City OF Fernandina Beach, 714 So. 2d 1070 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998)
    …, the majority extends the Supreme Court’s review of Femandina Harbor Joint Venture to its farthest reaches, giving decisions of this court uncertainty and instability, eroding any vestige of finality in our decisions. See Lubell v. Roman Spa, Inc., 362 So. 2d 922 (Fla.1978) (England, J., dissenting). It is the general rule in Florida that all questions of law which have been decided by the highest appellate court become the law of the case which must be followed in subsequent proceedings, both in trial and a…

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