The First Department, over a two-justice dissent, determined there was a question of fact whether the defendant landlord had breached its duty to keep plaintiff’s apartment reasonably safe. Plaintiff was injured in a fire in his apartment which was determined to have started in electrical wiring. Plaintiff had complained over the years about the inadequacy of the number of electrical outlets and the condition of the outlets. Plaintiff used extension cords and a power strip compensate for the allegedly inadequate outlets. The issue is whether the landlord’s failure to upgrade the 1930’s electrical system in the apartment breached a duty owed plaintiff:
There is a triable issue of fact as to whether defendant had actual or constructive notice that a dangerous condition existed in plaintiff’s apartment that it failed to remedy … . Specifically, plaintiff’s expert raised factual issues as to whether the building’s 1930s electrical system constituted a dangerous condition and whether defendant was on notice of same. Although the expert, a professional engineer, did not personally inspect the premises, he based his opinion that the fire was caused by overloaded electrical wires on specific factual evidence in the record and his knowledge of consumers’ changed needs since the 1930s because of the invention and development of power-hungry personal appliances that simply require more electrical power … . Daly v 9 E. 36th LLC, 2017 NY Slip Op 06404, First Dept 9-5-17
LANDLORD-TENANT (NEGLIGENCE, QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER LANDLORD’S FAILURE TO UPGRADE 1930’S ELECTRICAL SYSTEM BREACHED A DUTY OWED TO THE TENANT TO KEEP THE APARTMENT SAFE, PLAINTIFF TENANT WAS INJURED IN A FIRE WHICH STARTED IN THE ELECTRICAL WIRING (FIRST DEPT))/NEGLIGENCE (LANDLORD-TENANT, QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER LANDLORD’S FAILURE TO UPGRADE 1930’S ELECTRICAL SYSTEM BREACHED A DUTY OWED TO THE TENANT TO KEEP THE APARTMENT SAFE, PLAINTIFF TENANT WAS INJURED IN A FIRE WHICH STARTED IN THE ELECTRICAL WIRING (FIRST DEPT))/ELECTRICAL WIRING (LANDLORD-TENANT, NEGLIGENCE, QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER LANDLORD’S FAILURE TO UPGRADE 1930’S ELECTRICAL SYSTEM BREACHED A DUTY OWED TO THE TENANT TO KEEP THE APARTMENT SAFE, PLAINTIFF TENANT WAS INJURED IN A FIRE WHICH STARTED IN THE ELECTRICAL WIRING (FIRST DEPT))