Supreme Court of Florida

In a wrongful death claim against respondent in his official capacity as sheriff for assuming duty of care by responding to her 911 call but failing to summon an ambulance, proximately causing decedent's death, Fifth District Court of Appeal in Wallace v. Dean is quashed, decisions in footnote 2 of the present case are approved and reaffirmed to the extent they are consistent with the court's analysis and holding where: 1) the Sheriff undertook and owed the decedent a common-law duty of care; 2) the actions of respondents' deputies were operational in nature; and 3) the plaintiff-petitioner's second amended complaint stated a valid negligence-based wrongful death cause of action which was not barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/29/2009
• Published 01/29/2009

Judges

• LEWIS, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of Florida

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Sharon H. Proctor, Lake Saint Louis, MO, and Mark A. Avera of Avera and Smith, LLP, Gainesville, FL, for Petitioner.


• For Appellees:
  
• Bruce R. Bogan of Hilyard, Bogan and Palmer, P.A., Orlando, FL, for Respondent.