Spiegel & Utrera, P.A. Newsletter - Volume X: Issue XVI
 
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Landlord Had Duty To Protect Visitors From Violent Tenant 

A landlord can be sued for failing to take at least minimal steps to alleviate the risk posed by a violent tenant, a Court has ruled. The Plaintiff was a former tenant of the Defendant�s apartment complex who occasionally returned to visit family still living there. A tenant with a history of intimidating behavior had previously brandished a firearm at visitors and other tenants. At least one such previous incident involving the Plaintiff�s family was reported to the property manager in writing. When the tenant observed the Plaintiff on the premises, he got a shotgun, shot the Plaintiff twice and beat him before the police arrived to subdue him. The Plaintiff sued, claiming the landlord had breached a duty to protect him from the tenant. The landlord argued the law required a showing that the tenant had committed a nearly identical prior crime before a duty to protect visitors could be implied. But the Court disagreed and stated, �to establish heightened foreseeabillity, the law requires �prior similar criminal incidents (or other indications of a reasonably foreseeable risk of violent criminal assaults in that location) and does not require a showing of prior nearly identical criminal incidents�.�

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