Under Florida law, property owners and those in possession or control of premises owe invitees a duty to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition and to correct or warn of dangerous conditions of which they knew or should have known. See Frazier v. Panera, LLC, 367 So. 3d 565, 568 (Fla. 5th DCA 2023); Parker v. Shelmar Prop. Owner’s Ass’n, 274 So. 3d 1219, 1221 (Fla. 5th DCA 2019); Trainor v. PNC Bank, Nat’l Ass’n, 211 So. 3d 366, 368 (Fla. 5th DCA 2017). Florida’s open and obvious doctrine is a principle in premises liability law that can limit or eliminate a property owner’s liability when a dangerous condition is so visible and apparent that a reasonable person would notice and avoid it. However, an open and obvious condition does not automatically eliminate the landowner’s duty, but it can affect duty, breach, and comparative negligence depending on the circumstances.

While application of the open and obvious doctrine by trial courts to bar claims against defendants has been upheld on appeal in some Florida cases, the preferred procedure is to present the issue to the jury, as the obviousness of a condition typically implicates comparative negligence rather than eliminating a landowner’s duty as a matter of law.

In Sutley, the alleged dangerous condition consisted of an abrupt change in elevation between the sidewalk and the ramp leading to the Appellee’s pool area. Appellant presented expert testimony that the condition constituted a building code violation. The violation of the building code constituted prima facie evidence of negligence, reflecting a breach of the duty to maintain reasonably safe premises and sufficient to defeat summary judgment. See Dudowicz v. Pearl on 63 Main, Ltd., 326 So. 3d 715, 719 (Fla. 1st DCA 2021) (reversing summary judgment where hotel’s violation of building code provisions constituted prima facie evidence of negligence based on a breach of the hotel’s duty to maintain its premises in a safe condition); Parker, 274 So. 3d at 1221 (holding that summary judgment was improper where plaintiff’s expert opined that the placement of a wheel stop near defendant’s building constituted a dangerous condition in violation of the Florida Building Code, which constituted prima facie evidence of negligence); Cruz v. Wal-Mart Stores E., LP, 268 So. 3d 796, 798-800 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019) (holding that expert opinion that a raised manhole cover was a dangerous condition in violation of the Broward County Code was sufficient to defeat defendant’s motion for summary judgment); Doering v. Vills. Operating Co., 153 So. 3d 417, 418 (Fla. 5th DCA 2014) (reversing summary judgment where evidence was presented that a warped board on defendant’s deck violated a building code provision requiring any elevation changes over a quarter inch to be beveled); Holland v. Baguette, Inc., 540 So. 2d 197, 198 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989) (reversing summary judgment where the affidavit of plaintiff’s engineer supported the allegation that a step over was built in violation of the South Florida Building Code, which, if proven, would constitute prima facie evidence of negligence). Accordingly, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

In reversing the trial court, the appellate court held that the jury should determine (1) whether the defendant breached its duty to maintain the premises in a reasonably safe condition, (2) whether the condition was so open and obvious as to eliminate the property owner’s duty, and (3) whether the dangerous condition was the proximate cause of the Appellant’s injuries.

In personal injury cases, summary judgment on liability is seldom appropriate because these cases typically present genuine issues of material fact that are exclusively for the trier of fact, usually a jury, to decide.

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