Cramer v. Balcor Property Management, Inc., 24004

• Decision Date: 04 January 1994
• Docket Number: No. 24004,24004
• Citation: 312 S.C. 440,441 S.E.2d 317
• Parties: John W. CRAMER, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Genevieve Zitricki, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. BALCOR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, INC., and Hidden Lake Partners, an Illinois Limited Partnership, T. Walker Brashier, individually and d/b/a Hidden Lake Apartments, Defendants. . Heard
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court

Page 317

441 S.E.2d 317

312 S.C. 440

John W. CRAMER, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Genevieve Zitricki, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. BALCOR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, INC., and Hidden Lake Partners an Illinois Limited Partnership, T. Walker Brashier, individually and d/b/a Hidden Lake Apartments, Defendants.

No. 24004.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Heard Jan. 4, 1994.

Decided Feb. 7, 1994.

Douglas Franklin Patrick and Stephen R.H. Lewis, both of Covington & Patrick, Greenville, for plaintiff.

W. Howard Boyd, Jr., and James P. Walsh, both of Rainey, Britton, Gibbes & Clarkson; and Ray D. Lathan, of Lathan & Barbare, Greenville, for defendants.

C. Mitchell Brown, of Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough, Columbia, for the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys' Ass'n, amicus curiae.

FINNEY, Justice:

Pursuant to Rule 228, SCACR, the following questions have been certified to this Court by the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina:

Does a landlord owe a duty to a tenant to provide security in and around a leased premises so as to protect the tenant from criminal activity of third parties?

If so, is the duty derived from the South Carolina Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, S.C.Code Ann. Section 27-40-10, et. seq. (1991), or from common law and under what circumstances does that duty arise?

FACTS

The deceased Genevieve Zitricki was murdered in her apartment on or about April 5, 1990. The unknown assailant entered her apartment by prying open the patio sliding glass door. The plaintiff instituted a wrongful death action against the managing agents and owners of the apartment complex. The plaintiff alleges that the defendants had a duty to protect the deceased tenant from the criminal acts of a third party and breached this duty.

The defendant moved for summary judgment, asserting that there was no duty owed by the landlord to the decedent to protect her from criminal activity of a third party. As a result of that motion, the above questions were certified to this Court.

DISCUSSION

The initial question before this Court is whether a landlord has a duty to provide security to protect tenants from the criminal activity of third parties.

The plaintiff urges this Court to recognize a view of the relationship between the landlord and tenant which is analogous to that of the innkeeper and guest relationship. In so doing, the plaintiff urges the Court to adopt the corresponding duty of the landlord to The plaintiff claims that the landlord's duty is derived from common law. This conclusion is based on the assumption that the landlord/tenant relationship is analogous to innkeeper/guest and store owner/invitee relationships. The plaintiff asserts that the broader view draws little distinction between the above relationships. The plaintiff contends that the trend has been to impose a duty on innkeepers and merchants to protect their guests or invitees from foreseeable criminal activity of third parties. See Bullard v. Ehrhardt, 283 S.C. 557, 324 S.E.2d 61 (1984); Munn v. Hardee's Food System, Inc., 274 S.C. 529, 266 S.E.2d 414 (1980); and Shipes v. Piggly Wiggly St. Andrews, Inc., 269 S.C. 479, 238 S.E.2d 167 (1977). The district court in Cooke v. Allstate Management Corp., 741 F.Supp. 1205 (D.S.C.1990) considered the same cases relied on by this appellant and rejected the argument that South Carolina courts would extend the exceptions to the general rule to recognize an affirmative duty to protect tenants from criminal conduct.

                protect its tenants from foreseeable criminal activity.   The plaintiff asks the Court to find that those persons[312 S.C. 442]  in exclusive control of the access to their property and who have the power to provide the necessary protection, bear the responsibility of reasonably protecting their tenants, invitees, and guests from foreseeable criminal activity
                

Cooke v. Allstate Management Corp. is directly on point in addressing the questions raised here. In Cooke, the intruder gained access to the tenant's apartment through a sliding glass door. The tenant alleged that the attacker was able to reach her balcony by using a ladder left nearby. The tenant in Cooke alleged that the landlord was negligent for a number of reasons, including leaving an unsecured ladder nearby. The district court decided there was a factual issue whether the landlord's ladder was used by the attacker. Thus, the defendant's motion for summary judgment was denied on the negligence claim based upon the questions surrounding use of the ladder.

The plaintiff in Cooke, as in this case, attempted to extend the duty owed by store owners and innkeepers to landlords. However, the district court found that argument unpersuasive "in light of the cautious approach the South Carolina appellate courts have taken even in those contexts." Cooke, 741 F.Supp. at 1213. The district court was not convinced that the assumption was sound that the relationships of store owner/ invitee and innkeeper/guest are analogous to the relationship of landlord/tenant. The difference between the relationships was articulated as follows:

[P]laces to which the general public are invited might indeed anticipate, either from common experience or known fact, that places of general public resort are also places where what men can do, they might. One who invites all may reasonably expect that all might not behave, and...