Opinion
October 20, 21, 1926.
January 4, 1927.
Present: RUGG, C.J., CROSBY, CARROLL, WAIT, SANDERSON, JJ.
Landlord and Tenant, Repairs, Common passageway.
A tenant in an apartment house, in the absence of a special agreement as to repairs, cannot recover from the landlord for injuries received in a fall due to the looseness of a post in a common passageway which looked secure and firm, was not a trap, and, at the time of the injury, was in the same condition in which it was when the tenancy began.
TORT for personal injuries resulting from a fall on a common stairway in an apartment house owned by the defendant, a portion of which was occupied by the plaintiff and her husband as tenants of the defendant. Writ dated March 1, 1921.
There was a trial in the Superior Court before Whiting, J., at which there was evidence that the plaintiff's fall was due to the looseness of a post upon which she leaned in going down the stairway. The post looked strong and firm and exactly the same as the other posts in the stairway, and had looked the same during the tenancy of the plaintiff, and her husband. Previous to the accident to the plaintiff, the defendant had become aware of the condition of the post and had stated to a tenant other than the plaintiff that he would fix it. The judge ordered a verdict for the defendant and reported the action to this court for determination.
W.H. McDonnell, ( J.L. White with him,) for the plaintiff.
J.B. Donohue, for the defendant.
The verdict for the defendant was ordered rightly. There was no evidence of any change in the premises after the letting. The condition of the post was unchanged. The tenant took the premises as they were and could not require changes or repairs even in a common passageway. There was no trap. The case is governed by Angevine v. Hewitson, 235 Mass. 126. O'Malley v. Twenty-five Associates, 178 Mass. 555.
Verdict to stand.