Tieder v. Little

502 So.2d 923 (1987)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Trudi was struck by an automobile, pinned up against a brick wall, and killed when the wall collapsed on her. All Trudi did was walk out the front door of Eaton Hall dormitory on the University of Miami campus. At the same time, two students were attempting to clutch-start an automobile in the circular drive in front of Eaton Hall -- one student was pushing the car while the other student was in the car behind the wheel -- when, suddenly, the student behind the wheel lost control of the car. The automobile left the circular driveway, lurched over a three-inch curb onto a grassy area, and traveled some thirty-three feet across the front lawn parallel to Eaton Hall. The automobile collided with an elevated walkway leading out of the front door of Eaton Hall jumped onto the walkway and struck Trudi as she walked out the front door of the dormitory. The automobile continued forward, pinning her against a high brick wall that supported a concrete canopy at the entrance to the dormitory. Because the wall was negligently designed and constructed without adequate supports required by the applicable building code, the entire wall came off intact from its foundation and crushed her to death. Trudi would not have died merely from the automobile impact; she died as a result of the brick wall falling intact and in one piece upon her. Ps filed a wrongful death suit against Ds. The architect who designed the allegedly defective brick wall, moved to dismiss the complaint against him and urged that his alleged negligence was not, as a matter of law, the proximate cause of the decedent's death because the entire accident was so bizarre as to be entirely unforeseeable; the University of Miami moved for a summary judgment in its favor and made the same argument. The trial court agreed and granted both motions. Ps appealed.