Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...Counsel for appellants, Reserve Insurance Company, filed a motion to withdraw as counsel of record, and said motion was granted. PER CURIAM. These consolidated cases are before this Court for certiorari review of an interlocutory order of the Circuit Court, Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, which declared section 677.403(1)(b), Florida Statutes, unconstitutional....

...The leak allegedly damaged food products owned by several meat companies and stored with Gulf Florida. Each meat company, as a bailor, sued Gulf Florida for negligence, claiming damages in excess of $10,000. By motion the plaintiffs requested *551 that section 677.403(1)(b) be declared unconstitutional and that the trial be conducted under the statute as it existed prior to amendment in 1971....

...Aqua Dynamics, Inc., 295 So.2d 370 (Fla.3d DCA 1974); Adelman v. M & S Welding Shop, 105 So.2d 802 (Fla.3d DCA 1958). See Stegemann v. Miami Beach Boat Slips, 213 F.2d 561 (5th Cir.1954). In 1965 Florida adopted most of the provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code. Section 677.403(1)(b) as originally enacted changed the common law rule by providing: (1) The bailee must deliver the goods to a person entitled under the document who complies with subsections (2) and (3), unless and to the extent that the bailee es...

...The provision requires that a bailee prove that he acted with reasonable care in both negligence and contract cases. Low v. Park Price Co., 503 P.2d 291 (Idaho 1972); Canty v. Wyatt Storage Corp., 208 Va. 161, 156 S.E.2d 582 (1967). See also Anderson, Uniform Commercial Code § 7-403:5 (1971). In 1971 the legislature amended section 677.403(1)(b) to read as follows: (b) Damage to or delay, loss or destruction of the goods for which the bailee is not liable, but the burden of establishing negligence in such cases when value of such damage, delay, loss, or destruction exceeds $10,000 is on the person entitled under the document....

...ctive. If such relationship exists, there is no violation of the equal protection clause. Lasky v. State Farm Ins. Co., 296 So.2d 9 (Fla. 1974). The official text of the Uniform Commercial Code (1962) provides an optional clause that can be added to section 677.403(1)(b), "but the burden of establishing negligence in such cases is on the person entitled under the document." [1] The 1971 legislature had for consideration a bill, similar to the official optional clause, which would have changed pr...

...693 (1918); Davis v. Florida Power Co., 64 Fla. 246, 60 So. 759 (1913). See North Ridge General Hospital v. City of Oakland Park, 374 So.2d 461 (Fla. 1979). The equal protection challenge ends with a finding of rationality for drawing the line. We hold section 677.403(1)(b), Florida Statutes, to be constitutional and remand these consolidated cases to the circuit court for further proceedings....

...e delivered; however, the bailor continued to have the ultimate burden of proving his case by the preponderance of the evidence. Reserve Insurance Co. v. Gulf Florida Terminal Co., 386 So.2d 550, 551 (Fla.1980). 3. In 1965, Florida adopted Fla.Stat. § 677.403(1)(b), which changed the common law rule to require that the bailee prove that he acted with reasonable care in both negligence and contract cases. Id. at 551. 4. In 1971, the legislature amended section 677.403(1)(b) to read as follows: (1) The bailee must deliver the goods to a person entitled under the document who complies with subsections (2) and (3), unless and to the extent that the bailee establishes any of the following: * * * * * *...

...Under the common law, the bailor continued to have the burden of proving his case by a preponderance of the evidence. Marine Office-Appleton & Cox Corp. v. Aqua Dynamics, Inc., 295 So.2d at 370. 12. The Florida version of the Uniform Commercial Code, Fla.Stat. § 677.403(1)(b), is not to the contrary....

...Lonray presented a prima facie case of negligent warehousing by proving a bailment for hire, delivery to Azucar of 67,953,940 pounds of raw bulk cane sugar, and redelivery to Lonray of 66,472,380 pounds of raw bulk cane sugar, a difference of 1,481,560 pounds, establishing a presumption of negligence by Azucar. Fla.Stat. § 677.403(1)(b); see I.C.C....

...Azucar, having failed to meet its burden of going forward with evidence explaining the loss of the sugar, has failed to overcome the presumption of negligence. 18. Because Azucar has failed to overcome Lonray's prima facie case of negligence, Lonray has met its burden of proving negligence as prescribed by Fla.Stat. § 677.403(1)(b) (1979); Reserve Insurance Co., 386 So.2d 550; E.S.I....

...to steal Plaintiff's container. The issue of STRACHAN's liability as a bailee is to be determined by reference to the law of the State of Florida. Leather's Best, supra, 451 F.2d at 813. A provision from the Uniform Commercial Code, Florida Statute Section 677.403(1)(b), is the codified law on bailment in Florida....