Florida Senate - 2010                                    SB 1224
       
       
       
       By Senator Gardiner
       
       
       
       
       9-00538A-10                                           20101224__
    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 actual or constructive
    7         knowledge of the condition and should have taken
    8         action to remedy it; providing that constructive
    9         knowledge may be proven by circumstantial evidence;
   10         repealing s. 768.0710, F.S., relating to the duty to
   11         maintain premises and the burden of proof in claims of
   12         negligence involving transitory foreign objects or
   13         substances; providing an effective date.
   14  
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16  
   17         Section 1. Section 768.0755, Florida Statutes, is created
   18  to read:
   19         768.0755 Premises liability for transitory foreign
   20  substances in a business establishment.—If a person slips and
   21  falls on a transitory foreign substance in a business
   22  establishment, the injured person must prove that the business
   23  establishment had actual or constructive knowledge of the
   24  dangerous condition and should have taken action to remedy it.
   25  Constructive knowledge may be proven by circumstantial evidence
   26  showing that:
   27         (1) The dangerous condition existed for such a length of
   28  time that, in the exercise of ordinary care, the business
   29  establishment should have known of the condition; or
   30         (2) The condition occurred with regularity and was
   31  therefore foreseeable.
   32         Section 2. Section 768.0710, Florida Statutes, is repealed.
   33         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.