124 So. 2d 874 | Fla. Dist. Ct. App. | 1960
In this appeal by the defendant below from a final judgment entered for the plaintiff by the Circuit Court for Leon County the sole question before us is whether the evidence adduced at the trial was sufficient to establish gross negligence under the Florida Guest Statute as defined by the Supreme Court of Florida in a previous appeal of this case (Carraway v. Revell, Fla.1959, 116 So.2d 16).
The earlier appeal was filed by the plaintiff from a judgment for the defendant based upon the same evidence, and this court affirmed the judgment, holding that the definition of gross negligence applied by the trial court was correct under the ruling cases (Carraway v. Revell, Fla.App.1959, 112 So.2d 71). On motion of the plaintiff, we certified this question to the Supreme Court of Florida as a question of great public interest, as provided for by our Constitution, art. 5, § 4, F.S.A. (Carraway v. Revell, Fla.App.1959, 112 So.2d 75). The Supreme Court then rendered an opinion in which it held that gross negligence under the Florida Guest Statute (F.S.A. § 320.59) is “that course of conduct which a reasonable and prudent man would know would probably and most likely result in injury to persons or property.” [116 So.2d 22] The Supreme Court remanded the cause to this court for further proceedings and we accordingly entered an order reversing the judgment appealed from and remanded the cause with directions that, upon reconsideration in accordance with the principles set forth in the opinion of the Supreme Court of Florida, the trial court enter its final judgment (Carraway v. Revell, Fla.App.1959, 123 So.2d 400).
On remand the trial court, which had tried the case without a jury, reconsidered
Upon our study of the record in this case and the history of this case, we cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion in finding and concluding as it did when it applied the definition of gross negligence set forth in the Supreme Court’s decision, which is “the law of the case” here. The trial court, properly trying the case without a jury, was both a trier of the facts and a judge of the law, and so we do not have before us the usual question as to whether a judge has trespassed upon the province of a jury as a trier of the facts. We think that the court clearly had the right and discretion to find from the evidence that gross negligence on the part of the defendant was proven under the definition laid down by the Supreme Court.
We, therefore, hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in entering the final judgment appealed from, and the judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.