Diversified Land Management, LLC v. Agosto
A tenant severely burned while trying to extinguish a cooking-oil fire sued his landlord for failing to install smoke detectors as required by section 83.51(2)(b), Florida Statutes, theorizing an alarm would have warned him in time. The Sixth District reversed the denial of the landlord's directed verdict motion, holding that because the tenant was outside in the rain tarping a dog kennel some 26 feet from where a detector should have been, and his own fire expert could not say whether he would have heard an alarm outside, causation rested on pure speculation.
Key facts
- Tenant severely burned while attempting to extinguish a cooking-oil fire in a rental property sued landlord for failing to install a smoke detector as required by Florida Statutes section 83.51(2)(b).
- Tenant was outside the home approximately 26 feet away, tarping a dog kennel in the rain, when the fire occurred in the kitchen.
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Why it matters
This is a useful defense-side opinion for any negligence case built on a 'warning device would have prevented the injury' theory, reinforcing that Gooding's more-likely-than-not causation standard requires affirmative… — full analysis with a trial
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