Q: We operate physical fitness clubs and spas in Florida. We educate our employees in proper use of machines, post warning signs and supervise workouts. Our staff is instructed to call 911 in case of an emergency. But we're unsure about our legal duty to provide skilled CPR or first-aid devices like heart defibrillators. We'd like to avoid it if possible.

-- ``We Pump You Up''

A: Good question, and good news for you. We looked into this issue last year when we noticed our local Bally's added electrical defibrillators to its health clubs and certified its personnel in their use. We assumed the equipment was legally required, but our legal research proved otherwise.

Under Florida's Cardiac Arrest Survival Act (Statute 768.1325), automated external defibrillators are not required to be provided and employees are not required to be trained in their use. Even if they are available and used in a life-threatening medical emergency, the act gives immunity from civil liability for accidental damages except for gross negligence or criminal misconduct, use by licensed health professionals and application in hospitals, clinics or other healthcare facilities.

We also found a recent health club case that clarifies your responsibilities. In L.A. Fitness Int'l. v. Estate of Tringali, 980 So.2d 550 (Fla. App. 2008), the patron had a cardiac arrest while using a stair-stepping machine. There was no automatic external defibrillator on the premises. The club manager had CPR training but decided not to administer it since he believed the injured person had suffered a stroke. Instead he waited for emergency response to his 911 call. The paramedics arrived within five minutes, used both CPR and a defibrillator, but the patron died.

The estate sued the health club for negligence in failing to properly health screen, administer CPR, have a defibrillator and properly train employees for medical emergencies. The club claimed it satisfied its legal duty to assist by promptly calling for aid. After the trial jury awarded $620,000 in damages, the appellate court reversed.

``Courts have generally held that a business owner satisfies its legal duty to come to the aid of a patron experiencing a medical emergency by summoning medical assistance within a reasonable time. They have declined to extend the duty of reasonable care to include providing medical care or medical rescue services.''

MUST WE HONOR

CONTRACT?

Q: We agreed to buy $3,000 of carpeting, half for our home and half for our business office. We signed the contract with the seller at our house on a Thursday evening. He finished the house part of the job the next day and was supposed to do the office part the following Thursday. Over the weekend we realized we were overpaying, so we canceled the whole deal in writing on Monday. The seller says we still have to pay for the whole job and threatens legal action if we don't. Help!

-- ``Nervous in North Miami''

A: You can relax as far as the home portion of your contract is concerned. Florida Statutes 501.021-501.055 regulate home solicitation transactions. They are defined as being initiated by the seller as a sale, lease or rental of consumer goods or services (except insurance and farm equipment) with a purchase price in excess of $25, concluded at a location other than the seller's place of business.

The Florida law and similar Federal Trade Commission regulations provide a cooling-off period for home solicitation buyers. They can deliver written cancellation until midnight of the third business day after the day on which they signed their purchase contract. The canceled seller then must return any down payment or trade in goods within 10 days. The sales contract is supposed to state these cancellation rights. You properly observed the three-day requirement, because you signed your contract on a Thursday and canceled it the following Monday.

There is also an unexpected potential benefit you might receive in this transaction. Your question states that the home carpet installation was completed by the seller during the cancellation period, before he was paid. The statute makes this especially dangerous for him. If the seller fails to retake possession of his goods within the 40-day reasonable time period, they become the legal property of the buyer without the obligation to pay for them.

Ask Doctor Law appears every first Monday of the month in Business Monday. Send questions to askdoctorlaw@MiamiHerald.com. Martin E. Segal, a licensed attorney, lectures in business law at the University of Miami School of Business Administration. Visit him at www.dr-law.com.

Disclaimer: This column is not intended to be a solicitation of legal business or the furnishing of self-help legal advice. Laws vary from state to state. Readers are strongly urged to consult independent and qualified legal professionals before making any business decisions. The views expressed are those of the writer and not of The Miami Herald.

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