Jennifer Feld, of the West Palm Beach office, obtained a Final Summary Judgment for the defense in a premises liability case. The Plaintiff was claiming injuries resulting from a brown recluse spider bite, claiming the spider had laid eggs in his leg. In moving for summary judgment, Jennifer argued that as a matter of law in Florida, an owner, possessor, or party responsible for maintaining land is not required to anticipate the presence of harm or guard an invitee against harm from animals Ferae Naturae, unless such owner or possessor has reduced the animals to possession, harbors such animals, or has introduced onto his premises wild animals not indigenous to the locality. Ferae Naturae is a legal doctrine limiting liability for ownership of wild animals. Specifically, the facts were similar to the case St. Joseph’s Hospital v. Cowart, 891 So.2d 1039 (Fla.2d DCA 2004), where the Court held that a hospital did not breach any duty of exercising ordinary care to maintain its premises in reasonably safe condition after a patient was bitten by black widow spider in an emergency room. In that case, the pest control efforts at hospital were sufficient, reasonable, and similar to programs at other hospitals, and the hospital did not have black widow infestation. Id. at 1041. The evidence failed to demonstrate that the hospital breached its duties of ordinary care. Id.

This case involved an analogous situation. There was no evidence that the Defendant knew a spider was on the premises, and there was no evidence that a spider was ever on the premises at all. Prior to the complaint from the Plaintiff, the Defendant had no prior complaints or indications of any problems with spiders. The pest control efforts were consistent, reasonable, and sufficient, and the premise was maintained in a reasonably safe manner. In addition to these numerous liability defenses, Jennifer also found a discrepancy in the Plaintiff’s medical records, where the alleged spider bite was diagnosed as red ant bites. The Plaintiff subsequently requested that the medical records be amended to reflect a “spider bite” following the filing of his lawsuit. The Court found that there was no genuine issue of material fact, that the Defendant did not breach any duty of care owed to the Plaintiff during the time that he was a business invitee. Accordingly, our Motion for Final Summary Judgment was granted.