State justices asked to resolve legal question in anthrax lawsuit
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- A panel of federal appellate judges Monday asked the Florida Supreme Court to resolve a key legal issue in a lawsuit over the anthrax death of a photo editor for a supermarket tabloid publisher.
Robert Stevens died Oct. 5, 2001 after being exposed to the deadly material that was in an envelope mailed to the offices of American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer, Sun and Globe newspapers, in Boca Raton.
His wife, Maureen, sued the federal government and Battelle Memorial Institute, a research company based in Columbus, Ohio, alleging they were the source of the anthrax strain that killed her husband and had been negligent in failing to keep it secured.
The lawsuit alleged its origin could be traced to the Army's Research Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., although investigators have been unable to determine who sent the anthrax to American Media.
The lawsuit is on hold pending an appeal of a federal trial judge's decision to let the lawsuit proceed after finding that the government and Battelle had a duty under Florida law to protect members of the public from the anthrax used in their facilities.
The governor and Battelle appealed that decision to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal in Atlanta, which asked the Florida justices for help after failing to find a controlling precedent on the issue in case law.
A three-judge 11th Circuit panel noted that in one instance a Florida appellate court had ruled Dollar Rent-a-Car had a duty to warn a British tourist, who was accosted while driving a car with tags clearly identifying it as being rented, of foreseeable crime.
Another Florida appellate ruling, though, denied a claim against Publix Super Markets for a manager's failure to warn an employee of the known sexual predatory history of a co-worker entrusted with taking care of the employee's child.
Those and other cases fail "to fit neatly into the complex factual pattern at hand," the 11th Circuit panel wrote.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
