Uhlig v. Moore, 6 Div. 46

• Decision Date: 14 March 1957
• Docket Number: 6 Div. 46
• Citation: 93 So.2d 490,265 Ala. 646
• Parties: Paul UHLIG v. Mrs. A. E. MOORE and Edgar P. Hogan.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 490

93 So.2d 490

265 Ala. 646

Paul UHLIG v. Mrs. A. E. MOORE and Edgar P. Hogan.

6 Div. 46.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

March 14, 1957.

E. David Haigler, Frank L. Parsons and J. Robt. Huie, Birmingham, for appellant.

Sadler & Sadler, Birmingham, for appellee Hogan.

MERRILL, Justice.

This appeal is from a judgment of nonsuit, requested by appellant when the trial court sustained demurrers to appellant's Court Two, as amended, the only count then remaining on which appellant relied.

Count Two claimed damages from Edgar P. Hogan, as owner and Mrs. A. E. Moore, as lessee of a large dwelling house which Mrs. Moore was using as a rooming house, for injuries received by appellant when he went to visit one Baird, who had rented a room from Mrs. Moore. Two pertinent paragraphs of the count are as follows:

'And plaintiff avers, on to-wit, the 6th day of July, 1954 plaintiff entered the said dwelling and rooming house, maintained as aforesaid, for the purpose of visiting a person, by the name of Baird, who was a friend of the plaintiff and who had rented a room from the defendant, Mrs. A. E. Moore, in said dwelling and rooming house, the purpose of plaintiff's said visit being to check on plaintiff's ride to work the next day, with the said Baird, the plaintiff having been riding to and from work for a long period of time with the said Baird, prior to July 6, 1954, and while plaintiff was walking down a flight of steps, in the night time, on said premises, at a point provided for use for people entering and leaving said dwelling and rooming house, plaintiff was caused to lose his balance and footing throwing him off balance and causing him to fall and as a proximate consequence thereof plaintiff was injured and damaged as follows:

* * *

* * *

'And plaintiff further avers that on, to-wit, the 6th day of July, 1954 and at the time of the execution of said lease of said premises by the defendant, Edgar P. Hogan, to the defendant, Mrs. A. E. Moore, as aforesaid, the defendants well knew, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should have known that the flight of steps on said premises at the point where plaintiff was caused to fall, were not in a reasonably safe condition for the use of people coming into and leaving said premises, in that, the said flight of steps, at the point where plaintiff was caused to fall were so constructed that the tread of one of the steps, in said flight of steps, was of insufficient width as to afford secure footing thereon, to a user of said steps, and plaintiff avers that all of his said injuries and damages were caused as a proximate consequence of the negligence of the defendants in negligently failing to make and put said flight of steps at the point where plaintiff fell, in a reasonably safe condition for the use of people entering and leaving said premises.'

The demurrer of appellee Hogan, the owner, contained many grounds; among them that (1) no cause of action was alleged against defendant Hogan, (2) no duty was alleged to be owed by defendant Hogan to appellant, (3) it was not alleged that the defect in the steps was latent, and (4) it affirmatively appeared that the defect was patent and was known to Mrs. Moore at the time of the letting. This demurrer was adopted by appellee Mrs. Moore, the lessee. When the demurrers were sustained, plaintiff took a nonsuit and appealed.

The sole question presented by this appeal is whether or not Count Two of the complaint states a cause of action against appellee. Hogan, the owner and lessor of the premises.

There are two general rules concerning the liability of a landlord in cases of this type. Each is stated in our leading case on this subject, Morgan v. Sheppard, 156 Ala. 403, 47 So. 147, 148. First, the rule as to third persons generally, or strangers, is:

'* * * When, however, the premises are out of repair at the time of letting, in particulars which the landlord is bound as regards third persons not to allow, the landlord is liable for injuries sustained by a third person from such want of repair. The reason for the rule seems to be that in such a case the dangerous condition of the premises constitutes a nuisance, and the liability of the landlord results from his leasing...