## Facts

- Trudi Beth Tieder exited Eaton Hall dormitory at the University of Miami at about 9:00 p.m. on January 7, 1983.
- Two students attempted to clutch-start a car in the circular drive; the driver lost control.
- The car left the drive, crossed a curb, traveled across the front lawn, hit an elevated walkway, and struck Trudi as she exited the dormitory.
- The car then pinned Trudi against a high brick wall supporting a concrete entrance canopy.
- The estate alleged the wall was negligently designed and constructed without adequate structural supports and in violation of the South Florida Building Code.
- The estate alleged the wall split from its foundation and collapsed onto Trudi, and that she would not have died absent the wall’s collapse.
- The estate sued, among others, the architect (Robert M. Little) and the University of Miami (owner/maintainer) for negligent design, construction, and maintenance.

## Issues

1. Whether the alleged negligent design and construction of the wall, including building-code noncompliance, could be found to be a proximate cause of death where a car’s loss of control precipitated the wall’s collapse.
2. Whether proximate cause and foreseeability were determinable as a matter of law on a motion to dismiss (architect) and on summary judgment (university), or instead presented jury questions.

## Decision

- The appellate court reversed the order dismissing the complaint against the architect.
- The appellate court reversed summary judgment for the university.
- The court held the pleadings and record, viewed favorably to the estate, permitted a finding that the defective wall was a cause-in-fact of death and that the general type of harm was foreseeable.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings, including jury determination of proximate cause.

## Legal Principles

- Proximate cause includes both factual causation and legal causation based on foreseeability.
- Foreseeability for proximate cause concerns the general type of harm, not the precise sequence of events producing it.
- Negligent structural design and code violations may be a proximate cause of injury when the risk created includes collapse and resulting harm to foreseeable users of the premises.
- Proximate cause is ordinarily a jury issue and should be decided as a matter of law only when reasonable persons could not differ.

## Conclusion

Because a reasonable jury could find that a negligently designed, code-noncompliant wall foreseeably posed a risk of collapse and that its collapse contributed to Trudi Tieder’s death, proximate cause could not be resolved as a matter of law, and the claims against the architect and the university were allowed to proceed.


Tieder v. Little, 502 So. 2d 923 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 3d Dist. 1987)