“Kid Throws A Cinderblock Off Balcony, And Landlord May Be Liable” [Daniel Fisher, Forbes, on Connecticut Supreme Court’s ruling in Ruiz v. Victory Properties “that a landlord may be liable for allowing a 10-year-old to throw an 18-pound cinderblock from the balcony of his mother’s apartment … [because] the landlord should have known the construction materials and other junk laying around behind the building could become deadly missiles in the hands of a child.”]
5 Comments
Sounds like strict liability to me, liabilty triggered purely by the existence of a child victim and a horrific injury.
Unnnnnbelievable.
I’ve been fond of this quote ever since 1L.
“Life is too short to pursue every human act to its most remote consequences; “for want of a nail, a kingdom was lost” is a commentary on fate, not the statement of a major cause of action against a blacksmith.” – Scalia
Holmes v. Secs. Investor Protection Corp. (90-727), 503 U.S. 258 (1992).
Well, we know the “correct” solution to this will be to weld the doors to the balcony shut.
Would the court’s analysis be different if the kid had dropped one of the rocks?
@Crabtree: Why take the risk? Remove balconies.
They may fall off; people may fall off of them; and as per the instant case, things can be thrown off them.