Knight v. Fourth Buckingham, Etc.

• Decision Date: 19 January 1942
• Docket Number: Record No. 2462.
• Citation: 179 Va. 13
• Parties: EVELYN KNIGHT v. FOURTH BUCKINGHAM COMMUNITY, INC.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

Page 13

179 Va. 13

EVELYN KNIGHT v. FOURTH BUCKINGHAM COMMUNITY, INC.

Record No. 2462.

Supreme Court of Virginia, Richmond.

January 19, 1942.

Present, All the Justices.

1. LANDLORD AND TENANT — Duty to Maintain Artificial Lighting in Halls and Stairways — Common Law Prevails in Virginia. — In Virginia there is no statute which directs that the landlord must maintain artificial lighting in hallways and stairways in apartment houses, and therefore in this jurisdiction the common law prevails.

2. LANDLORD AND TENANT — Duty to Maintain Artificial Lighting in Halls and Stairways — Common-Law Rule Stated. — By the common-law rule the landlord is not obligated to the tenant to light stairways in the leased premises in the absence of express contract.

3. LANDLORD AND TENANT — Duty to Maintain Artificial Lighting in Halls and Stairways — Common-Law Liability Does Not Extend to Injuries Due to Unlighted Condition. — The common-law liability of a landlord for the safe condition of approaches to, and the stairs and hallways in, premises used in common by different tenants, does not require him to keep the ordinary halls and stairways lighted, and hence he is not liable for injuries received by reason of the unlighted condition of this portion of the premises.

4. LANDLORD AND TENANT — Duty to Maintain Artificial Lighting in Halls and Stairways — Notice of Motion Failing to Charge Actionable Negligence — Case at Bar. — In the instant case, an action to recover damages occasioned by falling down an unlighted stairway in defendant's apartment house, plaintiff's notice of motion alleged that her husband leased a second-floor apartment from defendant; that to enter the apartment it was necessary to use the common entrance and stairway to the apartment building; that prior to the night plaintiff was injured defendant assumed the obligation of lighting the entrance, hallways and stairways; that on the night plaintiff was injured no lights were burning in the accustomed places, and that as a result plaintiff fell and sustained an injury. No defect in the stairway was alleged, nor was any express contract obligation on the part of the landlord to maintain lights in the halls and stairways alleged. Defendant's demurrer to the notice of motion was sustained.

Held: That plaintiff failed to charge in the notice of motion any actionable negligence which proximately contributed to her injuries, and for that reason the judgment of the lower court must be sustained.

5. MOTIONS — Notice of Motion for Judgment — Case Recognizable at Law Must Be Stated — Sufficiency Subject to Test by Demurrer. — A notice of motion for judgment must state a case that the law will recognize, and its sufficiency may be tested by demurrer.

Error to a judgment of the Circuit Court of Arlington county. Hon. Walter T. McCarthy, judge presiding.

The opinion states the case.

Cornelius H. Doherty and Dorsey K. Offutt, for the plaintiff in error.

Gardner L. Boothe, for the defendant in error.

GREGORY, J., delivered the opinion of the court.

The plaintiff in error, Evelyn Knight, filed her notice of motion for judgment in the court below against Fourth Buckingham Community, Incorporated, alleging that she was entitled to damages occasioned by falling down an unlighted stairway of one of the defendant's apartments. The defendant demurred to the notice, and it was sustained. The plaintiff indicating that no amendment to the notice would be offered, the court dismissed the action.

The sole question before us is whether or not the notice states a case. To determine the issue we must look to the notice. The material allegation is that plaintiff's husband leased a second-floor apartment from the defendant. "And in order to enter this apartment it was necessary for the plaintiff to use the common entrance and stairway to the apartment building, which was maintained by you; that between the 15th day of February, 1939, and the 6th day of November, 1939, you assumed the obligation of maintaining the said entrance, hallways and stairways in a good and sufficiently lighted condition, but plaintiff says that on the 6th day of November, 1939, while plaintiff was still the wife of the lessee, Andrew Knight, and while plaintiff was still a tenant in the premises above described, on her arrival to the apartment house, no lights were burning in the accustomed places, and the hall and stairway was in a darkened condition, and plaintiff endeavored to go to her apartment, but due to your failure to exercise reasonable care in maintaining a good and sufficient lighting equipment in said apartment house, as you had assumed to do, and in permitting the lights in the hallway and the stairway to remain unlighted, and knowing that plaintiff would use such hallway and stairs, as she had a right to do, plaintiff missed her footing and fell and sustained, etc."

In her bill of particulars it is stated that the time of the accident was on the 6th of November, 1939, at between 2:15 and 2:30 a.m.; that it occurred at the top of the stairs of the second floor; that when she arrived at the apartment house there were no lights burning in the stairway to the second floor, where her apartment was located and that she "guided herself up the stairway by the hand-rail on the right hand side, and on reaching the top it was necessary for her hand to leave the hand-rail and as she started toward the door of her apartment she missed the top step and fell down the stairs."

The demurrer stated that no legal cause of action had been alleged; that the notice discloses that the plaintiff's injuries did not result from any negligence of the defendant which proximately caused them; and that the notice discloses her own contributory negligence, which bars her recovery....