CanI sue my landlord for faulty equipment that resulted in injury?

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CanI sue my landlord for faulty equipment that resulted in injury?

I fell down the stairs because the banister bar broke. I went to the hospital as result and suffered a fractured rib.

Asked on November 22, 2010 under Real Estate Law, Florida

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 13 years ago | Contributor

IF the following occured--

1) The banister was itself faulty in some sense: too weak, poorly installed, loose, rotten, "termited" (not that that's a word), etc.

2) The landlord either knew of the fault (e.g. someone told him) or should have known (it was obvious on inspection and had been obvious long enough the landlord should have spotted it)

--then the landlord probably is liable. On the other hand, if the banister was not actually in bad shape, there'd be no liability--the landlord did nothing wrong. Or if it was in bad shape but the landlord neither knew of the problem nor reasonably should have known (e.g. there was an interior crack, not detectable from the outside), then again, the landlord would not be at fault.


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