The Evans family rented an unfurnished one-bedroom apartment in Healdsburg month-to-month. They plugged their refrigerator and freezer
Question:
The Evans family rented an unfurnished one-bedroom apartment in Healdsburg month-to-month. They plugged their refrigerator and freezer into a double electrical outlet in the kitchen. In December, the lower outlet stopped working. There wasn't another outlet nearby, so the tenants bought an extension cord, plugged it into the top outlet, and plugged the refrigerator and freezer into it.
The landlords were renovating the apartment next door at that time. One of the Evanses went over and told the landlords about the problem with the electrical outlet. The landlords said they'd fix it, but they never did. Two of them were experienced electricians, and it would have taken them less than ten minutes to do the repairs. On at least two occasions, one of the landlords was in Evans's kitchen and saw their extension cord arrangement.
In May, the overloaded extension cord started a fire. Mr. and Mrs. Evans and their children were severely injured and lost most of their possessions. They sued the landlords for damages.
1. Could the landlords be held liable when the tenants had created the dangerous extension cord arrangement?
2. Did the landlords have a duty to repair the electrical outlet? If so, was it based on their agreement with the tenants or imposed by law?
3. What if the lease had stated that the landlords had no duty to repair any problems that arose after the lease began?
4. What if the lease had provided that the landlords could not be held liable for injuries occurring on the property during the tenancy?
5. Would the answers to these questions be different if this had been a commercial lease? Why or why not.
6. If this was a one-year lease instead of a month-to-month one, would the tenants have had a right to move out and stop paying rent because of the landlord's failure to make the repairs?
7. What could the tenants have done aside from moving out?
Project Management A Managerial Approach
ISBN: 978-0470226216
7th Edition
Authors: Jack R. Meredith, Samuel J. Mantel,