Residential landlord did not owe a duty of care to tenant to protect against a blatant and known hazard.

The plaintiff caught her foot in a gap between the boards of a tread of the front porch steps in the single-family home that she rented. She had lived in the home for four years at the time of the accident. The trial court held that because the gap in the staircase was not hidden or a latent defect that the plaintiff was unaware of, the landlord owed no duty to the plaintiff with respect to the condition of the steps. This case serves as a reminder that in landlord-tenant accident cases, the landlord does not owe a duty to correct open and obvious hazards known to the tenant.

Case Law Alerts, 1st Quarter, January 2020 is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2020 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.