Department of Transp. v. Anglin

In Department of Transp. v. Anglin, 502 So. 2d 896 (Fla. 1987), the supreme court recognized that not all questions involving an intervening cause present a jury question, and that where reasonable people cannot differ, the issue may be one of law for the court to decide, not simply a question of factual causation. Id. at 899. As to foreseeability, we find the reasoning in Florida Power & Light Co. v. Macias by Macias, 507 So. 2d 1113 (Fla. 3d DCA), rev. denied, 518 So. 2d 1276 (Fla. 1987), persuasive. In Macias, the reviewing court discussed foreseeability as follows: It is incumbent upon the courts to place limits on foreseeability, lest all remote possibilities be interpreted as foreseeable in the legal sense. Since the chance that a vehicle in the ordinary course of travel will deviate from the roadway and collide with a pole is only a remote possibility, under certain circumstances it is not a legally foreseeable event. Thus, merely placing or maintaining a utility pole in close proximity to a roadway does not create a duty on the part of the utility company. Id. at 1115. In determining whether a condition creates an unreasonable risk to persons driving on a highway, the distance of the condition from the highway is often determinative. As the Restatement explains: The essential question is whether it is so placed that travelers may be expected to come in contact with it in the course of a deviation reasonably to be anticipated in the ordinary course of travel. Distance from the highway is frequently decisive, since those who deviate in any normal manner in the ordinary course of travel cannot reasonable be expected to stray very far. . . . Distance is important, however, only as it affects the recognizable risk; and other factors, such as the nature of the condition itself, its accessibility, and the extent and character of the use of the highway, must be taken into account. Restatement (Second) of Torts 368 cmt. h (1965)