Aruba Resort Has Duty to Warn

Lienhart v. Caribbean Hospitality Servs., Inc., 426 F.3d 1337 (11th Cir. 2005).

Lynda Lancaster, J.D.

In a recent liability case, the Eleventh Circuit held that the Aruba Grand Beach Resort & Casino (Aruba Grand) has the responsibility to warn guests about trucks and boat trailers crossing the beach.

Background
On May 9, 1998, while vacationing at the Aruba Grand, Janice Lienhart was struck by a pickup truck and boat trailer operated by Unique Sports of Aruba (Unique Sports) while asleep on the beach in front of the Aruba Grand. Lienhart suffered extensive injuries to her face, chest, neck, and arm which have required years of medical treatment. At the time of the accident, Lienhart was utilizing a lounge chair placed under a tiki hut by a member of the Aruba Grand’s staff.

The Aruba Grand is a large resort operated by Caribbean Hospitality Services, a Florida management company. To draw guests to its facility, the resort heavily promotes its private beach, adjacent public beach, and water activities. Unique Sports offers snorkeling and scuba diving trips which depart directly from the resort. Unique Sports rents space from the Aruba Grand and its facilities are adjacent to the hotel.

Lienhart sued Unique Sports, the Aruba Grand, and Caribbean Hospitality Services for damages resulting from the accident. Lienhart argued that the Aruba Grand was required to inform guests about the trucks on the beach because it knew of the dangerous conditions created by Unique Sports’s activities. The Aruba Grand argued that they were not responsible for the injuries to Lienhart because Lienhart’s injuries were solely the result of Unique Sports’s negligence. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Aruba Grand, concluding that the resort could not be held responsible for the negligence of another party.

“Zone of Danger”
The Eleventh Circuit focused on whether the Aruba Grand created a “zone of danger” by directing its guests to an area of the beach frequented by vehicles. Florida law, as a matter of public policy, requires landowners to maintain their property in a reasonably safe condition and imposes a duty to warn of concealed perils that are known or should be known to the landowner, but which are unknown or undiscoverable to guests.1

Unlike the trial court, the Eleventh Circuit determined that the Aruba Grand did have a duty to Lienhart. The court found that Lienhart’s injuries resulted from a “risk the Aruba Grand created and failed to warn or guard against.”2 The Aruba Grand controlled the area of the beach where Lienhart was sitting and knew that one of its tenants, Unique Sports, transported equipment in the area. The Aruba Grand was also aware that Unique Sports drove across the public beach without any demarcation of a driving path and without back-up devices on the trucks. The Eleventh Circuit concluded that the Aruba Grand had created a dangerous situation by allowing Unique Sports to trailer boats to and from the beach without separating the lounge chairs and tiki huts from the traffic on the beach. The Aruba Grand, therefore, breached its duty to minimize the risk of harm to its guests.

Conclusion
The Eleventh Circuit held that the district court erred by granting summary judgment and remanded the case to determine whether Caribbean Hospitality manages the Aruba Grand to such an extent that it assumes contractual liability. This issue was never reached on remand as the parties settled prior to the second trial.

Endnotes
1. Lienhart v. Caribbean Hospitality Servs., 426 F.3d 1337, 1339 (11th Cir. 2005).
2. Id. at 1340.