Let the Landlord Beware: California Imposes Strict Liability on Lessors of Rental Housing
![handle is hein.journals/molr51 and id is 909 raw text is: LET THE LANDLORD BEWARE:
CALIFORNIA IMPOSES STRICT
LIABILITY ON LESSORS OF
RENTAL HOUSING
Becker v. IRM Corp.'
The California Supreme Court's decision in Becker v. IRM Corp.2 has
ousted notice, one of the few remaining vestiges of the five century reign of
caveat emptor principles which once dominated real property leasing trans-
actions. Equating the landlord to a distributor who markets rental housing,
the court extended a cause of action in strict tort liability to the plaintiff
tenant whose personal injuries resulted from a latent defect in rental premises,
despite the landlord's inspection to discover such a defect upon purchasing
the building in a used condition.
In Becker, tenant plaintiff sustained a severely lacerated broken arm when
he slipped and fell against an untempered shower glass door in the apartment
rented from defendant IRM Corp., who acquired the 15 year old, 36 unit
apartment complex four years before plaintiff's accident occurred. A pre-
purchase inspection by defendant's officers revealed no visible differences in
the shower doors. Defendant knew of no prior accidents in the complex
involving shower doors. After the accident, defendant's maintenance man
inspected all shower doors in order to replace those containing untempered
glass. He stated that [t]here was no way a layperson could tell any difference
by simply looking at the shower doors. The only way I was able to differ-
entiate ... was by looking for a very small mark in the corner of each piece
of glass.3
Plaintiff's complaint asserted causes of action against the landlord IRM
Corp. in both negligence and strict tort liability. The Superior Court, Contra
1. 38 Cal. 3d 454, 698 P.2d 116, 213 Cal. Rptr. 213 (1985).
2. Id.
3. Id. at 457-58, 698 P.2d at 118, 213 Cal. Rptr. at 215.
4. The strict liability cause of action, as interpreted by the court, is an
outgrowth of RESTATEZMNT (SEcoND) OF TORTS § 402A (1965):
(1) One who sells any product in a defective condition unreasonably dan-
gerous to the user or consumer or to his property is subject to liability for
physical harm thereby caused to the ultimate user or consumer or to his
property if:
(a) the seller is engaged in the business of selling such a product, and
(b) it is expected to and does reach the user or consumer without substantial
change in the condition in which it is sold.
(2) The rule stated in Subsection (1) applies although](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/molr51&div=35&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Let the Landlord Beware: California Imposes Strict Liability on Lessors of Rental Housing
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