Opinion ID: 1824311
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Halifax Paving

Text: On February 19, 1990, this Court issued its opinion in Halifax Paving, Inc. v. Scott & Jobalia Construction Co., 565 So.2d 1346 (Fla. 1990). In that case, Halifax Paving loaned a crane to Scott & Jobalia (S & J). Under the direction of S & J workers, a Halifax Paving employee was operating the crane when another S & J worker was injured. The injured worker recovered worker's compensation benefits from S & J, and then sued Halifax Paving as the owner of the crane. Halifax Paving settled the claim prior to trial and then sued S & J for common law indemnity on the ground that any active negligence was attributable to S & J. Id. at 1347. The jury returned a verdict for Halifax Paving. The Fifth District reversed, holding that the owner of a dangerous instrumentality that is informally borrowed by the injured person's employer shares the employer's workers' compensation immunity. This court accepted jurisdiction in Halifax based on direct conflict with Mann I. In approving the decision of the Fifth District Court in Halifax, we stated: [T]his Court established in Smith v. Ryder Truck Rentals, Inc., 182 So.2d 422 (Fla. 1966), that a worker injured by a leased dangerous instrumentality operated by a fellow worker is limited to no more recovery than that permitted by the worker's compensation statutes. The central rationale of Smith is that leased equipment used on a job site in effect has become the working tool of the employer. Thus, the exclusivity principle of worker's compensation comes to bear. We see no reason why a different result should obtain in the present case. The only relevant differences between this case and Smith are that the dangerous instrumentality in this instance was informally borrowed... . We agree with the Fifth District that these differences are not sufficient to justify a different result than that in Smith. Id. (footnote and citations omitted). In Halifax, we expressly disapproved the opinions of the First District Court in Mann I and Mann II. As the law now stands, workers' compensation is the sole remedy available where a worker is injured by a borrowed dangerous instrumentality, whether leased or loaned. Halifax.