Landlord Didn't Know About Broken Door Lock

September 30, 1998

LVT Number: 12660

Tenant sued landlord NYCHA for negligence after he was robbed and assaulted by three people who followed him into his apartment building. Landlord asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial, claiming that it wasn't responsible for tenant's injuries. The court ruled against landlord, and landlord appealed. The appeals court ruled for landlord and dismissed the case. Tenant didn't show that landlord knew or should have known that the building's outer door lock had been broken for long enough that it should have been repaired.

Tenant sued landlord NYCHA for negligence after he was robbed and assaulted by three people who followed him into his apartment building. Landlord asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial, claiming that it wasn't responsible for tenant's injuries. The court ruled against landlord, and landlord appealed. The appeals court ruled for landlord and dismissed the case. Tenant didn't show that landlord knew or should have known that the building's outer door lock had been broken for long enough that it should have been repaired. Tenant also didn't show that the three youths who attacked him were intruders. Since they could have been tenants or people invited into the building by another tenant, tenant couldn't prove that landlord's failure to repair the broken door lock was the actual cause of his injuries.

Cobb v. NYCHA: 673 NYS2d 744 (1998) (App. Div. 2 Dept.; Miller, JP, O'Brien, Pizzuto, Friedmann, JJ)

Topics

More like this