Florida Senate - 2009                                    SB 2402
       
       
       
       By Senator Gardiner
       
       
       
       
       9-01573-09                                            20092402__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to negligence; creating s. 768.0755,
    3         F.S.; providing that if a person slips and falls on a
    4         transitory foreign substance in a business
    5         establishment, the injured person must prove that the
    6         business establishment had knowledge of the condition
    7         in that the condition existed for a sufficient time
    8         for the business establishment to have taken action to
    9         remedy the condition; providing that constructive
   10         knowledge may be proven by circumstantial evidence;
   11         repealing s. 768.0710, F.S., relating to the duty to
   12         maintain premises in a reasonably safe condition for
   13         the safety of business invitees; providing an
   14         effective date.
   15  
   16  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   17  
   18         Section 1. Section 768.0755, Florida Statutes, is created
   19  to read:
   20         768.0755 Premises liability for transitory foreign
   21  substances in a business establishment.—
   22         (1) If a person slips and falls on a transitory foreign
   23  substance in a business establishment, the injured person must
   24  prove that the business establishment had actual or constructive
   25  knowledge of the dangerous condition in that the condition
   26  existed for a sufficient length of time so that, in the exercise
   27  of ordinary care, the business establishment should have known
   28  of the dangerous condition and taken action to remedy it.
   29         (2) Constructive knowledge may be proven by circumstantial
   30  evidence showing that:
   31         (a) The dangerous condition existed for such a length of
   32  time that, in the exercise of ordinary care, the business
   33  establishment should have known of the condition; or
   34         (b) The condition occurred with regularity and was
   35  therefore foreseeable.
   36         Section 2. Section 768.0710, Florida Statutes, is repealed.
   37         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.
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