Haas v. Wooden Shoe Gardens, Inc.
Haas v. Wooden Shoe Gardens, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
We reverse the trial court’s summary judgment that the defect in defendant’s goods and services, about which plaintiffs complain, was so obvious as to discharge this contractor from liability. From the facts presented in this record, we conclude that plaintiffs presented a factual dispute as to whether the defect was latent, in which case defendant could be liable. See Slavin v. Kay, 108 So.2d 462 (Fla. 1958) (building contractor not liable for injuries to third parties after acceptance of improvement by owner unless defect is latent); Kala Investments, Inc. v. Sklar, 538 So.2d 909 (Fla. 3d DCA), rev. denied, 551 So.2d 460 (Fla. 1989) (whether defective nature of condition was obvious to third party exercising reasonable care is question of fact for jury).
We do not believe, for example, that the new owners’ knowledge of the presence of
REVERSED.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.