De La Flor v. Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co.
2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58797, 2013 WL 1087210, 930 F. Supp. 2d 1325 (2013)
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Rule of Law:
Under Florida common law, a business operator, including a hotel, does not have a duty to maintain an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) on its premises or to deploy one for a patron suffering a medical emergency. A business operator's duty to render aid to an injured guest ceases once the guest is in the care of an apparently competent person.
Facts:
- George L. De La Flor was a guest at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach Hotel.
- While using the hotel's fitness facility, De La Flor suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest and collapsed.
- A surgeon, who was also exercising in the facility, immediately began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on De La Flor.
- A boy at the scene called 911 at the surgeon's request.
- The surgeon then asked the boy to search for an AED.
- The hotel owned an AED, but it was not located in the fitness center and the boy was unable to find it.
- De La Flor survived but suffered permanent brain damage and disability as a result of the incident.
Procedural Posture:
- Plaintiffs George L. De La Flor and Susanne De La Flor filed a negligence lawsuit against the Defendants in Florida state court.
- Defendants removed the case to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, asserting diversity jurisdiction.
- Plaintiffs filed a Motion to Remand the case to state court, arguing that the presence of Florida-resident defendants destroyed diversity.
- The District Court denied the Motion to Remand, finding that the in-state defendants had been fraudulently joined.
- Defendants then filed a Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
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Issue:
Does a hotel operator have a legal duty under Florida law to maintain an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) in its fitness facility or to deploy an AED it possesses for a guest suffering a medical emergency?
Opinions:
Majority - Huck, J.
No. A hotel operator does not have a legal duty to maintain or deploy an AED for a guest. While an innkeeper has a 'special relationship' with a guest that creates a duty to render aid, this duty is limited and does not extend to providing specific, skilled medical treatment or equipment like an AED. Citing L.A. Fitness Int’l, LLC v. Mayer, the court affirmed that there is no common law or statutory duty in Florida requiring a business to have an AED on its premises. The court rejected the plaintiffs' arguments that this duty was created because the hotel advertised its gym as 'state-of-the-art' or because it voluntarily possessed an AED elsewhere on the property. Furthermore, any duty the hotel had to render aid ceased once the guest was in the care of an 'apparently competent person,' who in this case was the surgeon performing CPR.
Analysis:
This decision reinforces the limited scope of a business owner's duty to render aid to patrons under Florida's common law of negligence. It clarifies that the duty does not encompass providing or using sophisticated medical equipment like an AED, even for businesses that offer fitness facilities. The ruling establishes that merely possessing an AED does not create a new duty to deploy it during an emergency. This creates a significant hurdle for plaintiffs in future negligence cases against businesses for failing to provide advanced medical assistance, solidifying that the duty ends once a competent third party intervenes.
