Blair v. Property Management Consultants

• Court: Ohio Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: HILDEBRANDT; SHANNON
• Citation: Blair v. Property Management Consultants, 531 N.E.2d 752, 40 Ohio App.3d 103 (Ohio App. 1987)
• Decision Date: 09 December 1987
• Docket Number: No. C-860763,C-860763
• Parties: BLAIR, Appellant, v. PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS et al., Appellees; Viner et al.

Page 103

40 Ohio App.3d 103

531 N.E.2d 752

BLAIR, Appellant, v. PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS et al., Appellees Viner et al.

No. C-860763.

Court of Appeals of Ohio, First District, Hamilton County.

Dec. 9, 1987.

Syllabus by the Court

Where a tenant brings suit against her landlords, apartment manager and caretaker for injuries received when an intruder entered her apartment through a window and raped her, the trial court errs in directing a verdict for the defendants at the close of the tenant's case, when the tenant presents sufficient evidence from which reasonable minds could reach differing conclusions as to whether a contract exists requiring the defendants to secure the apartment windows with locks.

Beckman, Weil, Shepardson & Faller, Joseph H. Feldhaus, Kircher & Phalen and Robert B. Newman, Cincinnati, for appellant.

Lindhorst & Dreidame and James M. Moore, Cincinnati, for appellees.

HILDEBRANDT, Judge.

Plaintiff-appellant Felita Blair appeals from the trial court's granting of a directed verdict in favor of defendants-appellees ¹ at the close of plaintiff's case.

The record reveals that in June 1985, appellant was looking for an apartment. Appellant's aunt informed her that there was a vacant apartment at 117 Malvern Place in Cincinnati, the building in which appellant's aunt resided. Appellant was shown a third-floor apartment in the building by the caretaker, Chuck Reeves. ²

The apartment building, which is located in Mt. Auburn, was owned by defendants Stanley S. and Shirley Viner. The Viners sold the building to appellees Thomas G. and Margaret Luebbe pursuant to a land contract. Since 1979, the Luebbes have engaged Lawrence Osky, doing business as Property Management Consultants, to manage the apartment building.

After several visits to the apartment, in July 1985 appellant gave Reeves $50 as a deposit on the third-floor apartment. Appellant was advised by Reeves that she could take occupancy of the third-floor apartment in two weeks. When appellant returned to the apartment in August 1985, she learned that Reeves had been replaced as caretaker by Virgil Broach. ³ Broach advised her he was occupying the third-floor apartment, but that a basement apartment was available. Appellant inspected the basement apartment with Broach. She noticed that the windows in the apartment, which were three feet above ground level, did not have locks. Appellant testified at trial that when she requested that the windows be secured with locks, Broach agreed to do so. With that assurance, appellant agreed to rent the basement apartment on a month-to-month basis. Prior to September 1, 1985, appellant paid an additional $200 deposit as well as her first month's rent of $250.

Appellant took occupancy of the basement apartment on September 1, 1985. At that time, she discovered that locks had not been placed on the windows. Instead, Broach had secured the windows with sticks. Appellant testified that Broach told her he would put locks on the windows, but he did not tell her how soon that would be accomplished. Appellant further testified that Broach assured her that the windows would be safe. Lawrence Osky testified at trial that he was authorized to make repairs in the amount of $250 to the apartment building without seeking permission from the Luebbes.

Appellant stated at trial that she kept the windows closed and secured with the sticks. However, during the early morning hours of September 10, 1985, a male intruder entered the apartment as appellant and her children were sleeping, and raped appellant. The man wore a stocking mask and was armed with a metal object. After the incident, appellant took her children to her aunt's apartment. As she was leaving, appellant determined that the door to her apartment had been locked from the inside.

On December 17, 1985, appellant filed an amended complaint in which she alleged, inter alia, that the failure to secure the windows in her apartment with locks constituted a breach of contract on the part of appellees. Appellant further alleged that the breach caused her to suffer physical and emotional injuries for which she had incurred damages. ⁴

Following the presentation of appellant's case, the trial judge granted appellees' Civ.R. 50 motion for a directed verdict. In compliance with Civ.R. 50(E), the trial judge dictated the basis for his decision into the record. We conclude that the trial court correctly determined that appellees were not liable to the appellant on a negligence theory or due to a failure to provide adequate security, on the authority of Thomas v. Hart Realty, Inc. (1984), 17 Ohio App.3d 83, 85, 17 OBR 145, 146, 477 N.E.2d 668, 670, in which this court observed:

"We find no common-law duty imposed by Ohio case law on landlords to afford reasonable protection against entry into the separately rented apartments in a multiple occupancy building, even in the face of foreseeable entries in a 'high crime area.' We do not believe defendant had a common-law duty apart from his contractual obligations to install a proper security screen in the first instance, or in the second instance, to replace the screen he had removed."

The trial court also found that the appellant could not maintain a claim for denial of quiet enjoyment against appellees. The court further determined that appellees' failure to equip the windows with locks did not constitute a violation of the building codes or the landlord-tenant statut...