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Rodriguez v. Cambridge Housing Authority9/3/2003
Middlesex.
February 10, 2003
Governmental Immunity. Massachusetts Tort Claims Act. Notice, Claim under Massachusetts Tort Claims Act. Practice, Civil, Presentment of claim under Massachusetts Tort Claims Act. Negligence, Proximate cause, Emotional distress, Comparative.
Answering special questions, a jury awarded damages to the plaintiffs for injuries they received as a result of multiple invasions of the apartment Carmen Rodriguez leased from the defendant, the Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA). The trial judge allowed the defendant's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV), agreeing with the CHA that the plaintiffs' claim of negligent failure to change the apartment's locks had not been adequately made in the presentment letter, as required under § 4 of G. L. c. 258, the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act, and that there was insufficient evidence of causation to support the verdict. Final judgment entered dismissing the plaintiffs' complaint in its entirety. We reverse so much of the judgment as dismisses the plaintiffs' claims against the CHA, as we conclude (1) that the presentment letter's description of the three attacks, and allegations of the CHA's negligent maintenance of the premises, including the apartment doors and locks, was sufficient to allow the CHA to undertake the appropriate factual investigation, legal inquiry, and settlement analysis, and thereby fulfilled the purposes of the presentment under the statute, and (2) there was sufficient evidence for the jury to find that the CHA's failure to change the locks after the first home invasion proximately caused the next two incidents. Finally, we resolve questions raised regarding the application of the G. L. c. 258, § 2, damages cap to the multiple injuries and damages awards in this case.
1. Background. a. The presentment letter. The plaintiffs' presentment letter, dated January 31, 1995, described three different invasions of their apartment in a three-week period that left Carmen and her sons, Samuel Rodriguez and Carlos Ocasio, hospitalized. The letter included the dates and character of each incident and the types of damages each plaintiff sustained. It alleged that the injuries resulted from the "CHA's failure to provide adequate security" and its breach of various lease provisions. The lease, referenced in and attached to the presentment letter, required the CHA to (1) provide the tenants quiet and peaceful enjoyment of the leased premises; (2) maintain the premises and the development in a safe condition; and (3) repair defective or unsafe conditions or provide alternative living quarters, within twenty-four hours of notice of such conditions. The lease prohibited the tenants from repairing or replacing door locks themselves.
In its recital of the home invasions, the presentment letter stated: "Despite [Carmen's] numerous requests to be transferred . . . the CHA took no action whatsoever to accommodate or do anything to remedy the lack of security and peaceful enjoyment of 112 Jackson Place. Additional locks were not provided . . . nor were the doors and windows made more secure. As a consequence, the Rodriguez family was subject to three home invasions . . . ." The letter did not mention that the twelve year old plaintiff, Samuel, had lost a key to the apartment at the home of his aunt. The aunt was married to Joaquin Luciano; the plaintiffs believed Luciano orchestrated the three attacks on the Rodriguez family.
The three home invasions were described in the presentment letter as follows: "On May 12, 1994, at approximately 9:30 A.M., Carmen Rodriguez was attacked by someone who had broken into her home," who told her (in Spanish), "I am here to kill you
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