Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Is renting a golf cart a big liability to owner
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Old 11-06-2013, 12:11 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bimmertl View Post
The decision applies to businesses that "rent or lease motor vehicles". That's extremely broad. A golf cart is a motor vehicle.

Florida's dangerous instrumentality doctrine applies to golf carts which would have created the vicarious liability to the owner of the rental agency. So this strikes that down. Their is no other owners liability statute or case law in Florida creating liability for the owner.
Rental businesses are only protected, by that cited case and those statutes, from incidents in which only the driver of the cart is alleged to have been at fault. It does not protect from a claim that the cart had been improperly maintained.When the driver says that he braked but nothing happened, guess who gets added to the suit?!