Tenant Killed in Hallway

Tenant's family sued landlord City of New York after tenant was shot to death in the building's hallway. Landlord claimed that it wasn't responsible and that no one could say whether the attacker was an intruder. Landlord asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial. The court ruled against landlord. To have a trial, tenant's family must only show that there is an issue of fact as to whether landlord's conduct caused the injury. There were sufficient questions raised in this case to require a trial. In pretrial questioning, tenant's family member, a neighbor, and the former building super all testified that the building intercom system and door locks were broken most of the time for a number of years before the murder took place. The super stated that he'd reported these problems to the building managers. The super also had seen the attacker leaving the building and hadn't recognized him as a tenant. Landlord also had done emergency work to install a new building vestibule three weeks before the murder, but it wasn't completed until after the incident.

Manning v. City of New York: NYLJ, p. 29, col. 1 (1/25/99) (Sup. Ct. NY; Braun, J)