Case Name: HOLIDAY CARPET SERVICE, INC., Appellant, v. Aleatha BUTLER, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1996-02-21
Citations: 669 So. 2d 302
Docket Number: No. 95-1878
Parties: HOLIDAY CARPET SERVICE, INC., Appellant, v. Aleatha BUTLER, Appellee.
Judges: Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and LEVY and GODERICH, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 669
Pages: 302–303

Head Matter:
HOLIDAY CARPET SERVICE, INC., Appellant, v. Aleatha BUTLER, Appellee.
No. 95-1878.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Feb. 21, 1996.
Rehearing Denied March 27, 1996.
Dittmar & Hauser and Helen Ann Hauser, for appellant.
Sutton and Montoto and John R. Sutton and Teddy L. Montoto, for appellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and LEVY and GODERICH, JJ.

Opinion:
SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.
Holiday Carpet Service, Inc. appeals from an adverse judgment on a jury verdict based on the claim that, during the course of a job at Mt. Sinai Hospital, its installers negligently moved a rug into an area where the plaintiff, a Mt. Sinai nurse, tripped over it as she left an elevator. Pretermitting consideration of the appellant's other substantial arguments, we reverse for entry of judgment in its favor on the controlling authority of Carrasquillo v. Holiday Carpet Serv., Inc., 615 So.2d 862 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993). In that case, we held, as a matter of law, that this very appellant's installers were independent contractors for whose negligence during their assigned work it was not liable. It is self-evidently impossible to distinguish that case from this one.
Reversed.