Supreme Court Overturns Previous Ruling & RULES
Against Caterpillar
News Service of Florida
In a case stemming from a worker’s finger being severed on a job site, a divided Florida Supreme
Court ruled against Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. in a dispute about whether a piece of
equipment should be considered a “dangerous instrumentality.”
The majority opinion, written by Justice Peggy
Quince and joined by justices Barbara Pariente,
R. Fred Lewis and Jorge Labarga, overturned a
ruling by the 2nd District Court of Appeal that
said a multi-terrain loader was not a dangerous
instrumentality. Anthony Newton was injured
after he was hired by C&J Bobcat and Hauling
LLC to help clear a lot. Newton and another
man used a loader that had been leased from
Caterpillar and was used to dump debris into a
trailer for disposal, Thursday’s Supreme Court
decision said. Newton was inside the trailer
when the other man released a stump from
the bucket’s loader, with the stump rolling
onto Newton’s hand and severing a finger,
the Supreme Court decision said. Newton
filed a lawsuit in Pinellas County alleging that
Caterpillar was liable because the loader was a
dangerous instrumentality. A circuit judge and
the 2nd District Court of Appeal turned down
the argument, but the Supreme Court majority
ruled in favor of Newton. A dissent written
by Justice Alan Lawson and joined by Chief
Justice Charles Canady and Justice Ricky
Polston argued the Supreme Court did not
have a basis to take up the case because there
were not conflicting rulings about the issue in
lower courts.
OCTOBER 2018 • DITCHMEN
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