Employee Fails to Show Employer Negligence Under Florida’s ‘Virtually Certain’ Standard

An employee was unable to prove that his employer’s negligence caused him to lose most of a hand in an industrial accident because the danger posed by the machine upon which he worked should have been apparent, a Florida state appeals court ruled Jan. 23 (List Industries Inc. v. Dalien).

Florida’s statutes hold that an injured employee must prove that the employer was “virtually certain” that its employees would be injured or killed in order to prove an intentional tort (Sec. 440.11(b)(2), Fla. Stat. (2005)), the District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida, Fourth District, explained. ...