MITCHELL MAINTENANCE SYSTEMS, A DIVISION OF LIFT-A-LOFT CORPORATION, A FOREIGN CORPORATION DOING BUSINESS IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, AN AGENCY OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, AND ILSE ANNE MCGARVEY, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF WILLIAM MCGARVEY, DECEASED, APPELLEES

Fla. 4th DCA | 1983-11-23
No. 82-2126
HERSEY and DELL, JJ., concur.
442 So. 2d 276 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1983) Caution
Cited by 12 cases

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Holding

A contractual provision requiring a contractor to indemnify the Department of Transportation for claims arising out of the contractor's actions, except for damages directly caused by the DOT's sole negligence, will be enforced even if the DOT was also negligent, as long as the provision is clear and unequivocal.


Headnotes

[1] Contractual provisions that absolve indemnitees from liability for their own negligence are enforceable only if they are clear and unequivocal.

[2] An indemnification clause that excepts liability arising from the sole negligence of the indemnitee will be enforced even if the indemnitee bears partial fault for the lo…

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Facts & Procedural History

A driver was killed when their car hit a concrete base of a lighting fixture on I-95, which had become exposed due to soil erosion. The driver's estat…

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Opinion of the Court
ANSTEAD, Chief Judge.

ANSTEAD, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal from a final judgment granting the Department of Transportation indemnification from Mitchell Maintenance Systems for damages assessed against the D.O.T. arising out of the maintenance of lighting fixtures on 1-95.

Mitchell contracted with the D.O.T. to maintain lighting fixtures on 1-95 in Palm Beach County. These fixtures had concrete bases sunk into the ground. The poles themselves were designed to break away at ground level if hit by a vehicle. Soil erosion around one pole caused the concrete base to extend above ground level. Subsequently, a car hit that base, and the driver was killed. The driver’s estate sued the D.O.T. and Mitchell, alleging that their negligence caused the erosion. Mitchell settled with the plaintiff and crossclaimed against the D.O.T. for contribution. The D.O.T. in turn crossclaimed against Mitchell for indemnity, citing provisions of a contract between the parties. This provision reads:

CONTRACTOR covenants and agrees that it will indemnify and hold harmless DEPARTMENT and all of DEPARTMENT’S officers, agents, and employees from any claim, loss, damage, cost, charge or expense arising out of any act, action, neglect or omission by CONTRACTOR during the performance of the contract, whether direct or indirect, and" whether to any person or property to which DEPARTMENT or said parties may be subject, except that neither CONTRACTOR nor any of its sub-contractors will be liable under this section for damages arising out of injury or damage to persons or property directly caused or resulting from the sole negligence of DEPARTMENT or any of its officers, agents or employees.

Based upon this clause and conflicting evidence of the parties’ negligence, the lower court granted the D.O.T.’s claim for indemnification. On appeal, Mitchell claims that, regardless of the existence of evidence of its own negligence, the D.O.T. is not entitled to indemnification if it too was negligent. We cannot agree.

In Florida, contractual provisions by which indemnitees are absolved from liability for their own negligence will be enforced only if these provisions are “clear and unequivocal.” University Plaza Shopping Center, Inc. v. Stewart, 272 So. 2d 507 (Fla.1973); Goyings v. Jack and Ruth Eckerd Foundation, 403 So. 2d 1144 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981).

Such provisions have been upheld in a variety of factual settings. Joseph L. Rozier Machinery Co. v. Nilo Barge Line, Inc., 318 So. 2d 557 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975); L. Luria & Son, Inc. v. Alarmtec International Corp., 384 So. 2d 947 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980); Middleton v. Lomaskin, 266 So. 2d 678 (Fla. 3d DCA 1972); John W. Eshelman & Sons, Inc. v. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, 431 So. 2d 345 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983).

In Leonard L. Farber Co. v. Jaksch, Inc., 335 So. 2d 847 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976), this court upheld a provision which relieved a lessor of all responsibility for losses occasioned wholly or in part by any act or omission of the lessee but which explicitly excluded the lessee from liability that was solely due to the negligence of the lessor. The lessor was granted indemnity even though the injury in question was caused in part by the lessor’s own negligence. See also Marino v. Weiner, 415 So. 2d 149 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982).

In our view the contractual provision here is clear and unequivocal and similar to the provisions upheld in Farber and Marino. The clause provides that Mitchell will indemnify D.O.T. for any claim arising out of Mitchell’s performance of the contract, except where the claim is caused solely by the neglect of D.O.T.

We reject Mitchell’s contention that the words “sole negligence” as used in the clause contemplate an apportionment of damages based on the comparative negligence of Mitchell and D.O.T. respectively. Under this view the percentage of damages attributable to D.O.T.’s comparative negligence would constitute “damages ... resulting from the sole negligence” of D.O.T. and never be subject to indemnification. While it is possible that this is what the parties contemplated, that is simply not what the agreement says. Applying this interpretation, indemnity is appropriate if there is any evidence from which the judge could conclude that Mitchell was negligent. Mitchell candidly concedes that there is evidence that it was negligent.

At the hearing, for example, an official of Mitchell testified that their employees were obligated to report soil erosion around lighting poles to the D.O.T. The D.O.T. introduced evidence that they were not notified of soil erosion around the pole hit by the car until after the accident. From this evidence, it is clear the judge could have concluded that Mitchell was negligent.

Accordingly, we affirm the decision of the trial court.

HERSEY and DELL, JJ., concur.


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Cited By

  • Fla. Farm Bureau Cas. Co. v. Lacy R. Batton, Sr., 444 So. 2d 1128 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984)
    …eneral contractor. Under the indemnity agreement the general contractor agreed to indemnify the state for all negligence liability except that caused solely by the state. Cf. Mitchell Maintenance Systems v. State of Florida, Dept. of Transportation, 442 So. 2d 276 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983). If a third party had been injured by the state and the subcontractor, the subcontractor would clearly have been able to seek contribution from the state. The state in turn could have sought indemnity from the general contractor…
  • …), we found that the phrase “occasioned wholly or in part by an act or omission of [ljessee ...” manifested the unequivocal intent to indemnify the lessor where joint negligence existed. Id. at 151; see also Mitchell Maint. Sys. v. Dept. of Transp., 442 So. 2d 276, 277 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983)(upholding an indemnification agreement which provided that there would be indemnification except in instances of the indemnitee’s sole negligence). In this case, the language of the Stall Agreement is in line with the above…
  • …tor are found to be jointly negligent or at fault, or where the damages are occasioned solely by the indemnitee’s own negligence or fault. See Charles Poe Masonry; Mitchell Maintenance Systems, a Div. of Lift-aLoft Corp. v. Florida Dept. of Transp., 442 So. 2d 276 (Fla. 4th DCA1983). Because there is no evidence ih this record that TIP, the indemnitee, was guilty of negligence, the foregoing principle could not be invoked, to invalidate the indemnity provision. There being no other basis to find it invalid, w…

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