Stand Your Ground
by
Carl D Berry on May. 12, 2014
Lawsuit & Dispute Lawsuit Accident & Injury Personal Injury
Summary: Stand your ground applicability to parking lot dispute.
A recent Fla civil case affirmed self defense w/o a gun, in a parking lot dispute against a Dr. and his wife. The dispute arose when the man claimed the Dr. had parked to close to his car causing his vehicle's security system to disable the vehicle. The Dr became agitated and bumped man in the chest. As the argument continued, the man felt his disabled wife was endangered by the Dr.'s actions and pushed the Dr. causing him to fall into his wife. The man in defending the civil suit asserted "Stand Your Ground" immunity. The court held as there was not duty to retreat when using non-lethal force
The court is it footnote asserted:
There is nothing in the language of the Stand Your Ground Law, or its legislative history, evidencing an intent to effectuate such a change. See Fla. S. Comm. on CJ, CS for SB 436 (2005). To the contrary, the Stand Your Ground Law expanded the circumstances in which one using deadly force has no duty to retreat and may
stand his or her ground (hence the name of the law) and meet force with force.
The creation of a duty to retreat before using non-deadly force in defense of self or others would require express legislative language. See Thornber v. City of Ft. Walton Beach, 568 So. 2d 914, 918 (Fla. 1990)
The court is it footnote asserted:
There is nothing in the language of the Stand Your Ground Law, or its legislative history, evidencing an intent to effectuate such a change. See Fla. S. Comm. on CJ, CS for SB 436 (2005). To the contrary, the Stand Your Ground Law expanded the circumstances in which one using deadly force has no duty to retreat and may
stand his or her ground (hence the name of the law) and meet force with force.
The creation of a duty to retreat before using non-deadly force in defense of self or others would require express legislative language. See Thornber v. City of Ft. Walton Beach, 568 So. 2d 914, 918 (Fla. 1990)