Is Landlord Responsible for Attack on Tenant in Lobby?

LVT Number: #22512

Tenant sued landlord for negligence after someone punched him in the face in the building lobby. Landlord claimed that it wasn’t responsible, and the court dismissed the case. Tenant appealed, and the case was reopened. Landlord had a duty to take minimal precautions to protect tenant from foreseeable harm, including criminal conduct. Tenant claimed that the attacker was an intruder who got into the building because landlord didn’t properly maintain the entrance door.

Tenant sued landlord for negligence after someone punched him in the face in the building lobby. Landlord claimed that it wasn’t responsible, and the court dismissed the case. Tenant appealed, and the case was reopened. Landlord had a duty to take minimal precautions to protect tenant from foreseeable harm, including criminal conduct. Tenant claimed that the attacker was an intruder who got into the building because landlord didn’t properly maintain the entrance door. The building had 240 apartments, a locked front entrance door and intercom, and a rear entrance leading to a parking lot through a locked door with no intercom. The building lobby was staffed by two security guards and a roving guard. In pretrial questioning, one of the guards stated that the rear door lock was broken most of the time. Another guard saw the attack and said the attacker wasn’t another tenant. So there was a question of fact as to whether the attacker was an intruder who entered the building through a negligently maintained rear door entrance.

Romero v. Twin Parks Southeast House, Inc.: 2010 NY Slip. Op. 01358, 2010 WL 520772 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Gonzalez, PJ, Saxe, Moskowitz, Abdus-Salaam, Roman, JJ)