Montes v. Young Men’s Christian Association of Glendale, California
Facts: A residential tenant rents a unit in a multi-story property. The roof is accessible by tenants and its condition is deteriorated and unsafe. The landlord had no notice of any dangerous pre-existing conditions and has taken no measures to make the roof inaccessible or safe. The tenant accesses the roof and is fatally injured in a fall from the roof. The tenant’s survivors make a demand on the landlord for the monetary value of their lost family member, which the landlord rejects.
Claim: The tenant’s survivors claim the roof’s accessibility and failed state of maintenance created conditions for injury preventable by the landlord since the landlord had pre-existing knowledge of the tenant’s ability to access the roof and was negligent in taking measures to maintain the roof’s infrastructure and prevent access.
Counterclaim: The landlord claims they had no duty of care to the tenant in preventing their injury since the landlord had no notice of dangerous pre-existing conditions on the property which imposed a duty of care on the landlord to maintain.
Holding: A California appeals court holds the landlord is not liable for the tenant’s injury as the landlord was not negligent in their care and maintenance of the property since the landlord had no notice of any dangerous pre-existing conditions and the tenant voluntarily took unnecessary and unforeseeable risks by venturing onto the open and visually dangerous roof. [Montes v. Young Men’s Christian Association of Glendale, California (2022) 81 CA5th 1134]
Read Montes v. Young Men’s Christian Association of Glendale, California here
Related Reading:
Real Estate Property Management
Chapter 41: Dangerous on-site and off-site activities
