Title: Standard Havens Products v. Benitez

State: florida

Issuer: Florida Supreme Court

Document:

648 So. 2d 1192 (1994)
STANDARD HAVENS PRODUCTS, Inc., Appellant,
v.
Fernando BENITEZ, et ux., Appellees.
No. 82795.

Supreme Court of Florida.
December 1, 1994.
Rehearing Denied January 30, 1995.
*1193 Kathleen M. O'Connor, Thornton, David, Murray, Davis, Thornton & Sreenan, P.A., Miami, for appellant.
G. William Bissett, Hardy, Bissett & Lipton, P.A., Miami, Donald T. Norton, Cohen & Cohen, P.A., Hollywood, for appellees.
ANSTEAD, Justice.
We have before us Benitez v. Standard Havens Products, Inc., 7 F.3d 1561 (11th Cir.1993), in which the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals certified the following question:
Id. at 1565. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(6) of the Florida Constitution. While we have some difficulty with the wording of the question and whether it frames a proper interrogatory to a jury on the issue of product misuse in a negligence case, we answer the question in the negative.[1]
We quote from the Eleventh Circuit opinion for the relevant facts and circumstances:
Following another recitation of standard negligence law, the court again instructed the jury on the principles of comparative negligence as a defense: "If you find in favor of the Defendant on the defense of comparative negligence, that will not prevent recovery by the Plaintiff, it will only reduce the amount of Plaintiff's recovery."
The case was then sent to the jury with a verdict form containing special interrogatories, which the jury answered as follows:
After review of Florida law, the Eleventh Circuit concluded that the controlling question of whether misuse of a product bars a simple negligence claim was unanswered by controlling precedent of the Supreme Court of Florida. Hence, it certified the question to us.
As the certified question makes clear, the action under consideration is a products liability *1196 claim sounding in negligence. Since our decision in Hoffman v. Jones, 280 So. 2d 431 (Fla. 1973), where we replaced the rule of contributory negligence with that of comparative negligence, we have consistently rejected the use of various legal "doctrines" as per se absolute defenses to negligence claims. See, e.g., Auburn Mach. Works Co. v. Jones, 366 So. 2d 1167 (Fla. 1979) ("patent danger" or "open and obvious hazard" rejected as exception to manufacturer's liability); Blackburn v. Dorta, 348 So. 2d 287 (Fla. 1977) (implied assumption of risk rejected as complete bar to recovery); Hoffman, 280 So. 2d  at 438 (doctrine of last clear chance no longer applicable in negligence cases). In Hoffman, we stated the impetus for our decision:
Id. at 436. We also noted that the initial justification for establishing a complete bar to negligence claims was no longer valid:
Id. at 437 (citation omitted).
Subsequently, in Blackburn v. Dorta, 348 So. 2d 287, 293 (Fla. 1977), we held that the affirmative defense of implied assumption of risk merges into the defense of contributory negligence and the principles of comparative negligence apply in all cases where the defense is asserted. We found no discernible basis analytically or historically to maintain a distinction between contributory negligence and assumption of risk and felt that Hoffman v. Jones dictated such a result. Id. at 292. Quoting from Hoffman, we restated the policy rationale for adopting comparative negligence:
348 So. 2d  at 293.
Two years later, in Auburn Machine Works Co. v. Jones, we rejected the "patent danger" or "open and obvious hazard" doctrine as an absolute defense to negligence claims:
366 So. 2d  at 1167, 1171.
Negligent conduct in the form of product misuse has also been recognized as a discrete defense in the context of a strict liability claim. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A, cmt. h (1965).[2] In 1976, this Court *1197 adopted the principles of strict liability in tort under section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts and held that product misuse was simply a type of negligence that may be asserted as a defense. See West v. Caterpillar Tractor Co., 336 So. 2d 80 (Fla. 1976), answer to certified question conformed to, 547 F.2d 885 (5th Cir.1977); cf. Creviston v. General Motors Corp., 225 So. 2d 331, 334 (Fla. 1969) (recognizing product misuse as defense in products liability claim based on breach of warranty).
In West, we delineated the type of conduct by a claimant that could be asserted as a defense in a strict liability action:
Id. at 90 (citations omitted; emphasis added). Although stated in the context of strict liability law, these observations make it clear that we have treated product misuse as a form of comparative negligence.
Consistent with the comparative negligence principles espoused in Hoffman, and our holdings in Blackburn, Auburn Machine Works, and West, we conclude that product misuse is not an absolute bar to a products liability claim sounding in negligence. Rather, much like the earlier demise of the absolute defense of contributory negligence, product misuse merges into the defense of comparative negligence. Consequently, product misuse reduces a plaintiff's recovery in proportion to his or her own comparative fault.
Of course, if a court determines as a matter of law, or a jury determines as a matter of fact, that a defendant was not negligent or that its negligence was not a cause of the claimant's injury, or if it is determined that a claimant's negligence was the sole legal cause of her injury, then, in such event, the claimant could not recover.[3] However, in this case, the jury found that the negligent conduct of both Standard Havens and Benitez were contributing legal causes of the Plaintiffs' injuries. As a result, the jury apportioned *1198 70% fault to Standard Havens and 30% to Benitez. Under the law of comparative negligence, this finding results in a reduction, but not a total bar, to Plaintiffs' claim.
Having answered the question certified in the negative, we return the case to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
It is so ordered.
GRIMES, C.J., and OVERTON, SHAW, KOGAN, HARDING and WELLS, JJ., concur.
[1]  As is discussed in the opinion, we have consistently rejected the use of various doctrines as absolute defenses in negligence cases. Rather, we have adopted the rule of comparative negligence under which the conduct of the injured party may be raised as a defense. Hence, in a negligence action, an interrogatory on comparative negligence may be appropriate, but not an interrogatory specifically focusing on product misuse, assumption of risk, or any other of the various characterizations of a claimant's alleged misconduct. In addition, in a negligence action it would be inappropriate to fashion an interrogatory that combines elements of the negligence claim with elements of a defense.
[2]  Of course, negligence, as a basis of recovery in a products liability action, existed long before strict liability was recognized as a separate legal basis of recovery. See, e.g., Matthews v. Lawnlite Co., 88 So. 2d 299 (Fla. 1956). And, as noted above, this Court has consistently rejected the notion of per se absolute defenses in negligence cases.
[3]  While we are not reviewing the issue, we note that the trial court denied the defense's motion for directed verdict. In fact, the trial court observed:

It could be argued with a good deal of strength that Mr. Benitez ... went in [the baghouse] the way it sounds to me if I were a juror, in a very conscientious way to do a job to make this work right... . If I were a juror in this case, I would decide he didn't know he was misusing this property.
When the trial court made this statement it was referring to evidence which showed that if Mr. Benitez had not left the auger on to constantly remove the dust which fell to the bottom of the hopper as he was raking the baghouse walls, then the auger would have probably malfunctioned when turned on after he had finished raking and exited the baghouse. There was evidence that problems had previously occurred when too much dust was being moved along the bottom of the baghouse by the auger.