ANNA LOPEZ WOODEN AND JAMES WOODEN, JR., IN THEIR INDIVIDUAL CAPACITIES AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ESTATE OF KETURAH WOODEN, DECEDENT; AND ISAIAH WOODEN
v.
CITY OF PANAMA CITY BEACH, FLORIDA
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The appellants challenged a ruling that the City of Panama City Beach was immune from tort liability under Florida's governmental immunity doctrine. The court affirmed the immunity, holding that decisions regarding road design, traffic control devices, and alignment are planning-level governmental functions protected by absolute immunity.
The court held that the City is entitled to absolute governmental immunity because decisions regarding road alignment, traffic control devices, and upgrades to roads and intersections are planning-level, judgmental governmental functions immune from traditional tort liability. The 'hidden trap' exception to immunity does not apply where the danger is no greater than that existing anywhere it is possible to cross a road mid-block.
[1] Governmental entities are immune from tort liability for judgmental, planning-level functions, including decisions regarding road construction and alignment.
[2] The decision to build or change a road, even if deemed unwise, is a planning-level decision for which governmental entities are immune from liability.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“failure to install traffic control devices and the failure to upgrade an existing road or intersection, as well as the decision to build a road or roads with a particular alignment, are judgmental, planning-level functions and absolute immunity attaches”
Establishes that governmental entities have absolute immunity for decisions about traffic control devices and road design and alignment
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceKeturah Wooden was killed by a pickup truck while crossing a two-lane road after a sidewalk ended mid-block. The incident occurred at a location where…
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PER CURIAM.
AFFIRMED. Cf. Dep’t of Transp. v. Neilson, 419 So. 2d 1071, 1073 (Fla. 1982) (holding that “failure to install traffic control devices and the failure to upgrade an existing road or intersection, as well as the decision to build a road or roads with a particular alignment, are judgmental, planning-level functions and absolute immunity attaches”); Payne v. Broward County, 461 So. 2d 63, 66 (Fla. 1984) (holding that as a matter of law, “hidden trap”
exception to immunity not triggered in case where girl killed by pickup truck as she crossed two-lane road after sidewalk ended mid-block a short distance from a controlled intersection, because “the danger created was no greater than that existing anywhere it is possible to cross a road in midblock” and there is no duty to warn pedestrians of “readily apparent” dangers like “crossing the street in midblock”); see Com. Carrier Corp. v. Indian River County, 371 So. 2d 1010, 1020 (Fla. 1979) (explaining that “certain policy-making, planning or judgmental governmental functions cannot be the subject of traditional tort liability”); Payne, 461 So. 2d at 65 (explaining that state and local governmental entities are always immune for a decision to build or change a road, even when “unwise,” in order “to prevent judicial intrusion into planning-level decisions”).
B.L. THOMAS, KELSEY, and TANENBAUM, JJ., concur. _____________________________
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Dep't OF Transp. v. Neilson, 419 So. 2d 1071 (Fla. 1982)
- Payne v. Broward Cnty., 461 So. 2d 63 (Fla. 1984)