Lamar Mitchell was walking to a Miami-Dade County bus stop at US-1 and SW 244th Street. On the way to the bus stop, he walked through a grassy area and tripped on a hidden piece of rebar. Mr. Mitchell walked in that grassy area often but claimed to have noticed no rebar before he fell. He also did not know how long the rebar was there or whether anyone knew of its presence. Nonetheless, Mitchell sued Ginley Lawn Service & Landscaping, Inc., who routinely cut the grass around the bus stop for Miami-Dade County. Ginley moved for summary judgment because it (1) owed Mitchell no duty and (2) had no actual or constructive notice of any dangerous condition.
The Court agreed with the analysis in HM&B’s Motion for Summary Judgment prepared on Ginley’s behalf. The Court held that Ginley owed no duty to Mitchell to ensure that the area was free of the alleged piece of rebar. The Court reasoned that Ginley was not responsible for placing the rebar on the County’s property, and Mitchell did not know who placed the rebar. Ginley was just a company hired to cut the grass on the County’s property. The Court concluded that even if a duty were owed to Mitchell, it would have been a duty owed by the County and that duty could not be shifted to Ginley to remedy an alleged condition it did not even know about.
Moreover, Mitchell failed to show that Ginley had actual or constructive knowledge of the allegedly dangerous condition. For those reasons, the Court granted the Motion.
Mitchell appealed the summary judgment finding. Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal agreed with the trial court and affirmed the entry of summary judgment.
The appeal was handled by Michael Dono.