Florida Senate - 2010                                    SB 1224 
        
       By Senator Gardiner 
       9-00538A-10                                           20101224__ 
    1                        A bill to be entitled                       
    2         An act relating to negligence; creating s. 768.0755, 
    3         F.S.; providing that if a person slips and falls on a 
    4         transitory foreign substance in a business 
    5         establishment, the injured person must prove that the 
    6         business establishment had actual or constructive 
    7         knowledge of the condition and should have taken 
    8         action to remedy it; providing that constructive 
    9         knowledge may be proven by circumstantial evidence; 
   10         repealing s. 768.0710, F.S., relating to the duty to 
   11         maintain premises and the burden of proof in claims of 
   12         negligence involving transitory foreign objects or 
   13         substances; providing an effective date. 
   14   
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
   16   
   17         Section 1. Section 768.0755, Florida Statutes, is created 
   18  to read: 
   19         768.0755 Premises liability for transitory foreign 
   20  substances in a business establishment.—If a person slips and 
   21  falls on a transitory foreign substance in a business 
   22  establishment, the injured person must prove that the business 
   23  establishment had actual or constructive knowledge of the 
   24  dangerous condition and should have taken action to remedy it. 
   25  Constructive knowledge may be proven by circumstantial evidence 
   26  showing that: 
   27         (1) The dangerous condition existed for such a length of 
   28  time that, in the exercise of ordinary care, the business 
   29  establishment should have known of the condition; or 
   30         (2) The condition occurred with regularity and was 
   31  therefore foreseeable. 
   32         Section 2. Section 768.0710, Florida Statutes, is repealed. 
   33         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.