A little less Sixteen Candles, a little more duty to inspect (or not)

When you’ve been stuck in an airport for hours, boarded the plane, un-boarded the plane, and have several more hours of airport waiting time in front of you, you’re allowed to randomly make a Fall Out Boy reference if your Fall Out Boy playlist is what’s getting you through the delay. 

As far as the case goes: a recent case out of New Jersey, Gross v. Fotinos Enterprises, Docket No. A-2058-17T4, involved a dispute over a landlord’s duty to inspect, which the court decided did not exist. The landlord rented to a pancake house restaurant (I have a habit of blogging about pancake houses, I happen to like pancakes) who used a cinder block to prop open an exterior door. The plaintiff was a restaurant employee who tripped over the cinder block and sued for injuries she sustained. 

The lease stated that the tenant should not obstruct the entrances, and the parties agreed that the lease imposed liability on the tenant for all charges associated with the property. The plaintiff argued, though, that the landlord had a duty to ensure the tenant’s compliance with all terms of the lease.

The court disagreed. The lease explicitly delegated responsibility for maintenance of the premises to the tenant, and the landlord was not aware that the tenant was using the cinder block to prop open the door. The landlord therefore owed no duty to inspect the premises or enforce compliance with the lease.