
“Were we to find such a duty, it would open up public utilities to enormous liability for every conceivable injury, both personal and property, which may occur during a power outage,” said the ruling, written by Judge Martha Warner and joined by Judge Alan Forst and Associate Judge Lisa Walsh. “And to have a jury assess the adequacy of FPL’s plans and performance during an event, such as an outage due to a hurricane, would interfere with the extensive regulation of public utilities already required through the Public Service Commission. Such a ‘drastic shift’ of liability to a public utility is more properly made by the Legislature or Public Service Commission.”