By Zach Gorchow
Gongwer News Service
A condominium association responsible for maintaining common areas can be sued for premises liability by an owner in the condominium complex, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The court in a 5-2 ruling reversed the Court of Appeals in Janini v. London Townhouses Condominium Association (SC Docket No. 164158). It also saw considerable back and forth between the majority and dissenting minority in a lengthy series of at times sharp footnotes.
In 2019, Daoud Janini exited his condominium to dispose of garbage into a dumpster serving the condominium complex. While walking on the complex’s sidewalk, which was covered in snow and ice, Janini slipped and fell, striking the back of his head against the sidewalk. He suffered a brain injury.
Three months later, Janini filed suit against the London Townhouses Condominium Association whose bylaws state it is responsible for maintenance of the complex’s common elements, including the sidewalk where Janini slipped and fell.
The association prevailed on most elements of its motion to dismiss with the trial court, except one – premises liability, where it said a genuine issue of fact existed. However, in 2022, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court on the premises liability matter, ordering the claim dismissed.
The Court of Appeals cited a prior ruling in a premises liability claim filed by a condominium owner against their condominium association where the precedent held the plaintiff, as a co-owner of the sidewalk, was neither a licensee nor an invitee and thus ineligible to sue.
Justice Richard Bernstein, writing for the majority, held that whether a condominium co-owner can sue for premises liability against a condominium association “depends on whether a special relationship exists between the co-owner and the condominium association as the owner, occupier, or possessor of the land, such that the law will impose a duty of care on the condominium association.”
Although condominium owners collectively own the property’s common elements, each does not possess exclusive control over them, a typical factor when determining land possession, Bernstein wrote.
“Defendant, per its own bylaws, assumed a duty to maintain the common elements,” he wrote. “In order to maintain the common elements, defendant necessarily assumed control over them. Plaintiffs, by agreeing to these bylaws, ceded their control over the common elements to defendant. Thus, we conclude that the relationship between a condominium association and a condominium co-owner is similar to the special relationship between a land possessor and its guests.”
Signing the majority opinion were Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement, Justice Megan Cavanagh, Justice Elizabeth Welch and Justice Kyra Harris Bolden.
Justice Brian Zahra, in a dissent joined by Justice David Viviano, said he would have left the prior precedent in place that holds a condominium owner lacks authority to sue the condominium association.
Zahra said the Condominium Act limits a co-owner’s right to legal action against the association to injunctive relief and does not provide for damages.
“The relationship between a condominium co-owner and their condominium association has always been and should remain the product of statutory law, which allows for myriad association bylaws that the condominium project’s co-owners must accept and follow,” he wrote.
Gongwer News Service
A condominium association responsible for maintaining common areas can be sued for premises liability by an owner in the condominium complex, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The court in a 5-2 ruling reversed the Court of Appeals in Janini v. London Townhouses Condominium Association (SC Docket No. 164158). It also saw considerable back and forth between the majority and dissenting minority in a lengthy series of at times sharp footnotes.
In 2019, Daoud Janini exited his condominium to dispose of garbage into a dumpster serving the condominium complex. While walking on the complex’s sidewalk, which was covered in snow and ice, Janini slipped and fell, striking the back of his head against the sidewalk. He suffered a brain injury.
Three months later, Janini filed suit against the London Townhouses Condominium Association whose bylaws state it is responsible for maintenance of the complex’s common elements, including the sidewalk where Janini slipped and fell.
The association prevailed on most elements of its motion to dismiss with the trial court, except one – premises liability, where it said a genuine issue of fact existed. However, in 2022, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court on the premises liability matter, ordering the claim dismissed.
The Court of Appeals cited a prior ruling in a premises liability claim filed by a condominium owner against their condominium association where the precedent held the plaintiff, as a co-owner of the sidewalk, was neither a licensee nor an invitee and thus ineligible to sue.
Justice Richard Bernstein, writing for the majority, held that whether a condominium co-owner can sue for premises liability against a condominium association “depends on whether a special relationship exists between the co-owner and the condominium association as the owner, occupier, or possessor of the land, such that the law will impose a duty of care on the condominium association.”
Although condominium owners collectively own the property’s common elements, each does not possess exclusive control over them, a typical factor when determining land possession, Bernstein wrote.
“Defendant, per its own bylaws, assumed a duty to maintain the common elements,” he wrote. “In order to maintain the common elements, defendant necessarily assumed control over them. Plaintiffs, by agreeing to these bylaws, ceded their control over the common elements to defendant. Thus, we conclude that the relationship between a condominium association and a condominium co-owner is similar to the special relationship between a land possessor and its guests.”
Signing the majority opinion were Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement, Justice Megan Cavanagh, Justice Elizabeth Welch and Justice Kyra Harris Bolden.
Justice Brian Zahra, in a dissent joined by Justice David Viviano, said he would have left the prior precedent in place that holds a condominium owner lacks authority to sue the condominium association.
Zahra said the Condominium Act limits a co-owner’s right to legal action against the association to injunctive relief and does not provide for damages.
“The relationship between a condominium co-owner and their condominium association has always been and should remain the product of statutory law, which allows for myriad association bylaws that the condominium project’s co-owners must accept and follow,” he wrote.
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