CASES - Civil
Torts -- Negligence -- Plaintiff, who was injured at nightclub when subwoofer fell from overhead speaker cabinet and struck her head, filed negligence suit against club and obtained jury verdict in her favor -- Evidence -- Trial court erred by accepting argument that defendant's actual or constructive notice was irrelevant to jury's determination of negligence in res ipsa loquitur case and excluding testimony of defense witnesses offered to show that defendant was not negligent in hanging the speaker overhead or in failing to perform regular safety checks on speaker -- Res ipsa loquitur merely assists plaintiff by permitting jury to draw an inference of negligence that has not otherwise been proven, and does not establish that defendant was negligent as matter of law or limit defendant's right to present evidence that it did not act negligently -- Judge who did not make initial ruling to exclude evidence erred in concluding that it was “law of the case” when issue was reargued at trial -- Law of case is not established by trial court's initial ruling but rather by an appellate decision that binds a subsequent proceeding Reported at 33 Fla. L. Weekly D88b Courtesy of Florida Law Weekly Subscriptions (800) 351-0917
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