Fisher v. United States

Fisher v. United States

Opinion

 [*1268]  NEWSOM, Circuit Judge:

This appeal requires us to interpret a Florida statute that protects owners of outdoor recreation areas against ordinary premises liability in tort. ] As relevant here, the statute provides that if a landowner opens its land to the public for outdoor recreational purposes, it incurs "no duty of care to keep that area safe for entry or use by others," no "duty of care toward a person who goes on the area," and no "duty . . . to give warning to persons entering . . . that area of any hazardous conditions." Fla. Stat. § 375.251(2)(a). We must decide whether the statute applies even where, as here, the injured entrant went onto [**2]  the land for reasons related to business and, thus, in common-law lingo, was a "business-visitor invitee." ] We hold that the statute, which speaks in broad and unqualified terms, means exactly what it says—that an owner incurs no ordinary duty of care to, and no duty to warn, any entrant, regardless of his common-law status or reason for entry.

The federal government operates Patrick Air Force Base on a large parcel of land in Brevard County, Florida. That land encompasses Tables Beach, which fronts the Atlantic Ocean and which the government has opened to the public. Robin and Laurie Fisher, a Florida couple, frequented Tables Beach because Mrs. Fisher worked as a civilian employee at the base.

The government maintained a public shower at Tables Beach with a wooden floor. According to the Fishers, whose allegations we accept as true for the purposes of this appeal, the government negligently allowed an algae-like film to accumulate on the shower floor and failed to provide any warning that the film had caused the floor to become slippery. In 2015, while at Tables Beach, Mr. Fisher stepped into the shower, slipped, and fell down hard. The fall caused multiple severe injuries that eventually [**3]  necessitated, among other things, two shoulder surgeries.

The Fishers sued the United States in federal court under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Mr. Fisher alleged that the government had negligently allowed an unreasonable accumulation of water to build up in the shower, negligently failed to treat the shower floor with a non-slip finish, and failed to warn him of the resulting hazardous condition. Mrs. Fisher sued for loss of consortium.

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