Landlord Who Provided Emergency Lighting During Power Outage Owed Duty of Care to Injured Tenant

Tenant sued landlord for negligence. She was injured when she fell down a darkened stairwell in her senior apartment complex during a power outage, and broke both of her arms. Landlord asked the court to dismiss the case without trial, claiming that it didn't owe tenant a duty of care. The court ruled against landlord, who appealed and lost. While landlord had no common law duty to provide lighting in the stairwell during a power outage, once landlord voluntarily undertook acts for which it has no legal obligation, it must act with reasonable care or be subject to liability for negligent performance of the assumed acts. Here, landlord installed battery-powered auxiliary lights in the stairwell, designed to illuminate the stairs during the first 90 minutes of a power outage. In case of an outage lasting more than 90 minutes, landlord also placed battery-operated touch lights on the wall in the stairwell and hung a flashlight from the railing. Landlord took these steps to assist people and gave tenants notice about this emergency lighting. So, landlord assumed a duty of reasonable care by installing the supplemental lighting system in the stairwell. Since there were questions of fact as to whether landlord reasonably exercised this duty, a trial was needed to determine the facts.

Barna v. Belmont Mgt. Co., Inc.: Case No. 523675, 2022 NY Slip Op 06842 (App. Div. 3 Dept.; 12/1/22; Egan Jr., JP, Clark, Pritzker, Fitzgerald, JJ)