Limones v. School District Of Lee Count

161 So.3d 384 (2015)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Abel Limones, Jr. suddenly collapsed during a high school soccer game his high school, and Riverdale High School, the host school. Both are in the School District of Lee County. Abel was unable to rise and Busatta, the coach, immediately ran onto the field to check. Abel tried to speak to Busatta, but within three minutes of the collapse, he appeared to stop breathing and lost consciousness. Busatta was unable to detect a pulse. An administrator from Riverdale High School who called 911, and two parents in the stands who were nurses, joined Busatta on the field. Busatta and one nurse began to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on Abel. Busatta, who was certified in the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), testified that he yelled for an AED. The AED was at the game facility located at the end of the soccer field, but it was never brought on the field to Busatta to assist in reviving Abel. Emergency responders from the fire department arrived and applied their semi-automatic AED to revive Abel, but that was unsuccessful. They then utilized a fully automatic AED on Abel and also administered several drugs in an attempt to restore his heartbeat. Emergency responders revived Abel, but not until approximately 8:06 p.m., which was twenty-six minutes after his initial collapse and 16 minutes after their arrival. Abel survived suffered a severe brain injury and now remains in a nearly persistent vegetative state that will require full-time care for the remainder of his life. An expert, Dr. David Systrom, M.D., determined that Abel suffered from a previously undetected underlying heart condition. Dr. Systrom stated that if shocks from an AED had been administered earlier, oxygen would have been restored to Abel's brain sooner and he would not have suffered the brain injury that left him in the current permanent vegetative state. P sued D alleging a breach of a common law duty and a statutory duty. Lee (D) moved for summary judgment, which the trial court granted and entered final judgment. P appealed. On appeal, the Second District recognized that D owed a duty to supervise its students, which included a duty to prevent aggravation of an injury. The Second District found no distinction between a business owner and the duty to use an AED and the present case, even though the differences are extreme, and concluded that reasonably prudent post-injury efforts did not require D to provide, diagnose the need for, or use an AED. P appealed.