Ortega v. Flaim

• Decision Date: 07 September 1995
• Docket Number: No. 94-266,94-266
• Citation: 902 P.2d 199
• Parties: Jacqueline ORTEGA and Floyd Ortega, Appellants (Plaintiffs), v. Guido FLAIM, Appellee (Defendant).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 199

902 P.2d 199

Jacqueline ORTEGA and Floyd Ortega, Appellants (Plaintiffs), v. Guido FLAIM, Appellee (Defendant).

No. 94-266.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

Sept. 7, 1995.

Robert W. Horn and Steven D. Olmstead, Jackson, for appellant.

Richard H. Honaker, Rock Springs, for appellee.

Before GOLDEN, C.J., and THOMAS, MACY, TAYLOR and LEHMAN, JJ.

GOLDEN, Chief Justice.

A social guest of landlord's tenant sustained personal injuries after falling down stairs at the tenant's residential dwelling. The social guest sued landlord for damages. Relying on the common law's general rule of landlord's immunity from liability, however, the district court granted landlord's motion for summary judgment. The social guest appealed, presenting this court with the primary issue of whether Wyoming will abandon the common law rules governing landlord liability as set forth in RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS §§ 356-362 (1965) and adopt a duty of reasonable care. Alternatively, if the court does not impose a duty of reasonable care, appellant social guest invites this court to attach liability based on theories of implied warranty of habitability, strict liability, and nuisance. Having carefully considered the questions before us, we decline to abrogate the common law rule or attach liabilities under the presented alternative theories.

We affirm the grant of summary judgment.

ISSUES

Appellant social guest presents these issues:

I. Where the terms of an oral agreement do not speak to whose obligation it is to make repairs, must a landlord who is advised by the tenant of a defect in the condition of stairs on the premises use ordinary care in repairing the defect or averting the danger caused by the defect?

II. Does a duty exist on the part of a landlord who purchases a house sight unseen, with the intent of renting that house to a family, to use ordinary care in detecting dangers from defects in the structural, electrical, heating or plumbing systems of the house and warning of or averting those dangers once they are perceived?

III. When a landlord rents a home to a family based upon an oral agreement, is there an implied warranty of habitability that the home is fit for human habitation and has been maintained in a reasonably workmanlike manner?

IV. Where there are defects in a stair system does a material question of fact exist, precluding summary judgment, as to whether appellant's fall was caused by the defects in the stair system?

V. Where the owner of a house orally rents it, knowing or having reason to know of numerous safety violations in the stair system, does a material question of fact exist, precluding summary judgment, as to whether the home is a nuisance?

VI. May a landlord who fails to inspect a rental house be held strictly liable when he rents the house in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to those who may be expected to use the premises?

Appellee landlord rephrases in this way:

1. Under the facts of this case, did Appellee owe a duty of care to the social guests of his tenants?

2. As a matter of law, have Appellants failed to establish causation?

3. Should the Court reject Appellants' requests to radically alter Wyoming premises liability law by overruling longstanding precedent and by creating new claims for relief?

FACTS

In 1981, Appellee Guido Flaim (landlord) purchased seven homes, sight unseen, by contract for deed and received the warranty deeds on August 6, 1990. One of those properties, a residential home located at 324 "O" Street in Rock Springs, Wyoming, was orally leased to Dan and Becky Stroud (tenants). The oral lease was a bare bones commitment by the tenants to pay rent of $200.00 per month in return for landlord's surrender of possession. The parties did not discuss or make any agreements regarding repairs, express warranties of habitability, landlord's right to reenter or landlord's retention of any control over the premises. Tenants received exclusive possession and control.

Appellant Jackie Ortega (Ortega) was a social guest of the tenants on the evening of July 17, 1992. Ortega had visited at the house before and knew the house contained an interior stairway descending to the basement. In the early morning hours of July 18, 1992, Ortega told several people she was going to the bathroom and left the kitchen. A few seconds later others heard a crash and found an injured Ortega at the bottom of the staircase. Ortega filed suit against landlord alleging a defective staircase caused her injuries and discovery followed.

Discovery revealed essential material facts of this case were undisputed, although the parties disputed whether the tenants had previously complained to the landlord that the stair system was dangerous because it was too steep, its treads too narrow and it did not have a handrail. Under the law applicable to landlord liability, this factual dispute was relevant only to the issue of whether the defects were patent or latent. Accepting the tenants' contention they had complained only indicated any defects of the staircase were patent.

Following discovery, landlord moved for summary judgment based upon depositions indicating the material facts were undisputed and the question faced was a legal question of whether the law attached liability to a landlord. The district court held the common law rule of landlord nonliability applied and although exceptions to the general rule existed, none applied to these facts. The district court summarily rejected the other liability theories as being without merit. The landlord's motion for summary judgment was granted and this appeal followed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Our often stated standard of review for summary judgment appeals is well known and need not be repeated here.

DISCUSSION

Landlord Liability

In the landlord and tenant relationship, Wyoming follows the common law rules. Lyden v. Winer, 878 P.2d 516 (Wyo.1994); Mostert v. CBL & Assoc., 741 P.2d 1090, 1099 (Wyo.1987); Medlock v. Van Wagner, 625 P.2d 207, 208 (Wyo.1981); Matter of Estate of Mora, 611 P.2d 842, 847 (Wyo.1980). Under those rules, a landlord owes no greater duty to a tenant's guests than the landlord owes to the tenant himself. Clemmons v. Fidler, 58 Wash.App. 32, 791 P.2d 257, 260 (1990). Generally, that duty is nonexistent since landlords enjoy immunity from tort liability, being one of the few classes of defendants who can invoke caveat emptor.

The common law rule as applied today actually originated during 16th century feudalism when a tenant leased to acquire land. Buildings were simple and their living conditions of little concern to the tenant. Tenants' rights were best protected by the common law view that a landlord's lease to a tenant was a conveyance of the premises for the term of the lease. ¹ From that view, the tenant was the owner and occupier subject to all the responsibilities of one in possession and burdened with maintaining the premises in a reasonably safe condition to protect persons who came upon the land. Borders v. Roseberry, 216 Kan. 486, 532 P.2d 1366, 1368-69 (1975). As a general rule, the landlord owed no duty to the tenant or the tenant's guests for dangerous or defective conditions of the premises. Medlock, 625 P.2d at 208; Hefferin v. Scott Realty Co., 71 Wyo. 114, 254 P.2d 194, 197 (1953); and see RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS §§ 335, 356 (1965).

Over time, the courts created exceptions to the rule of landlord nonliability, some of which have been recognized in Wyoming:

1. Undisclosed conditions known to lessor and unknown to the lessee which were hidden or latently dangerous and caused an injury. Medlock, 625 P.2d at 208.

2. The premises were leased for public use and a member of the public was injured.

3. Part of the premises was retained under the lessor's control, but was open to the use of the lessee. Lyden, 878 P.2d at 518.

4. Lessor had contracted to repair the premises. Hefferin, 254 P.2d at 197.

5. Negligence by lessor in making repairs. Brubaker v. Glenrock Lodge Int'l Order of Odd Fellows, 526 P.2d 52 (Wyo.1974).

and see RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS §§ 356-362 (1965).

In order for social guest Ortega to succeed in imposing landlord liability in this case, Wyoming's adherence to the common law rule must be abandoned. She points to Sargent v. Ross, 113 N.H. 388, 308 A.2d 528 (1973), in which the court did abandon the common law rule and impose a duty of reasonable care on landlords. Similar to this case, Sargent involved a fall down the stairs, but the fall was caused by the landlord's negligent construction of the stairs. The resulting defective stairs caused a child to fall to her death. The tenants in Sargent had no authority to alter or remedy the defective stairs and the court considered that the steepness of the stairway could be considered a hidden defect or secret danger in the case of a child since the danger and risk may have been obvious to an adult but may have been imperceptible to a child. Sargent, 308 A.2d at 531-32. Despite the possibility that this hidden defect exception applied, the court chose to abandon the general rule of landlord nonliability and apply ordinary negligence principles.

Sargent 's conclusion that the nonliability rule must be abandoned followed the court's examination of the reasons for the landlord nonliability rule. Determining those reasons should be reevaluated in light of current needs and principles of law from related areas, the court found that stare decisis must yield to the need for responsible growth and change in rules that have failed to keep pace with modern developments. Sargent, 308 A.2d at 530, 534.

Other states, either judicially or through legislation, have accepted the contention that tenants in today's modern society are primarily concerned with acquiring a place to live rather than acquiring land to farm and have abrogated the common law rule. New Hampshire's lead in the adoption of an independent negligence doctrine for landlords has been followed...