Florida Statutes

Fla. Stat. § 588.15 (2025)

Liability of owner.

✓ 2025 Florida Statutes — current through the 2025 Regular Session
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588.15 Liability of owner.Every owner of livestock who intentionally, willfully, carelessly, or negligently suffers or permits such livestock to run at large upon or stray upon the public roads of this state shall be liable in damages for all injury and property damage sustained by any person by reason thereof.
History.s. 4, ch. 25236, 1949.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 16 cases, 1953–2019 · leading case: Selby v. Bullock, 287 So. 2d 18 (Fla. 1973).
Selby v. Bullock, 287 So. 2d 18 (Fla. 1973). · cites it 10× “15", passed upon the validity of Section 588.15, Florida Statutes, 1971, giving this Court jurisdiction of the direct appeal under Section 3(b)(1) of Article V of the Florida Constitution, F.”
Florida Power & Light Co. v. Morris, 944 So. 2d 407 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006). · cites it 3× “§ 588.15, Fla. Stat. The act defines an "owner" of livestock as any person "owning or having custody of or in charge of livestock.”
Fisel v. Wynns, 667 So. 2d 761 (Fla. 1996). · cites it 3× “The jury in Selby returned a verdict in favor of the livestock owner and the plaintiff appealed to this Court, arguing that his equal protection rights had been violated because section 588.15 requires a finding of at least negligence whereas the "dog bite" statute imposes…”
Welch v. Baker, 184 So. 2d 188 (Fla. 1st DCA 1966). · cites it 6× “” The first statutory provision (Section 588.15) thus cited and invoked in the complaint reads as follows: “Every owner of livestock who intentionally, wilfully, carelessly or negligently suffers or permits such livestock to run at large upon or stray upon the public roads of…”
Davidson v. Howard, 438 So. 2d 899 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983). · cites it 2× “§ 588.15, Fla. Stat. The act defines an "owner" of livestock as any person "owning or having custody of or in charge of livestock.”
Manfre v. Shinkle, 184 So. 3d 641 (Fla. 5th DCA 2016). · cites it 3× “In order to fulfill that purpose, the Act included provisions in section 588.15 that made the livestock owners responsible for damages caused by their animals that stray upon the public roads.”
Hanson v. Scharber, 749 So. 2d 563 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000). · cites it 2× “In his complaint, Hanson alleged that while driving his motor vehicle on Darby Road in Pasco County, he struck a bull which the Scharbers had negligently allowed to stray onto the roadway in violation of section 588.15, Florida Statutes (1995). After limited discovery, the…”
Toole v. Dupuis, 735 So. 2d 582 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999). · cites it 2× “Section 588.15, Florida Statutes (1997) provides: Liability of owner.”
Fisel v. Wynns, 650 So. 2d 46 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995). · cites it 5× “Section 588.15, Florida Statutes, provides that an owner who negligently permits their livestock to run at large upon or stray upon the public roads of this state shall be liable for all injury and property damage that resulted by reason thereof.”
Dario v. Roth, 756 So. 2d 262 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000). “§ 588.15 (1991). "Livestock `running at large' or `straying' shall mean any livestock found or being on any public road of this state and either apparently a neglected animal or not under manual control of a person.”
Beaver v. Howerton, 223 So. 2d 62 (Fla. 2d DCA 1969). · cites it 2× “Baker was sued for violating F.S. § 588.15, F.S.A., and upon trial the Circuit Court directed verdict for Baker.”
Ernest Carnahan v. Robert W. Norvell, 270 So. 3d 414 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019). · cites it 2× “See § 588.15, Fla. Stat. (2012). Appellant claimed that the pasture’s gate was left unlocked and unlatched, which allowed the livestock to escape and come upon the unlit road he was driving on.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.

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