This is a situation that is seen from time to time. Accidents caused by something other that the drivers! Under Florida law, someone can be sued if they were negligent and that negligence was the legal cause of an accident. Property owners have a duty to maintain their property in a way that is safe. A fair argument of negligence would be that a property owner had failed to maintain it’s tree or bushes and was the legal cause of the accident. In this case, as described, if a tree or bush grew and covered a stop sign so that people could not identify the stop sign, that very likely could be a case against the property owner for for negligence in failing to maintain the tree.
Now, if the driver that did not see the stop sign lived in the area and regularly used that particular intersection, this case may not be a case. That is because while it could be argued that the failure to maintain the tree was the legal cause of the accident, perhaps the driver not remembering the stop sign was there would also be a cause of the accident.
This points out that every case is unique and should be judged based on their specific facts. The advice in this blog is intended to be general and should not to be construed as specific advice for a case. The reason is that any slight difference in the facts could ultimately change the result. Also, this blog is based on Florida law and the laws of any other states or country could vary significantly from Florida.
