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Cobos v. Dona Ana County Housing Authority12/3/1998
otion to dismiss, the record supports Plaintiff's allegations that the failure to require a smoke detector could be found to be negligent, without regard to the existence of the ordinance. The Authority's director stated that he did not feel Plaintiff's home was safe without a smoke detector, despite his ignorance of the ordinance. Therefore, Plaintiff's claims do not necessarily rely on the lack of enforcement of the ordinance.
{18} We conclude that the relationships of the actors discussed above imposed at least limited duties of operation or maintenance on Authority employees. Under the Municipal Housing Law, the Authority's mandate was to "maintain, operate and manage any housing project." It chose to pursue this mandate through a federal regulatory scheme that allowed it to arrange for privately-owned housing, instead of publicly-owned housing, and Plaintiff's family qualified for assistance from the Authority precisely because it was unable to secure "safe and sanitary" housing. Under these circumstances, we have no difficulty in determining that the Plaintiff stated a claim for relief because Defendants allegedly failed to exercise ordinary care in the maintenance and operation of the home.
Part III: Duties Under Municipal Housing Law consistent with Policies of Tort Claims Act.
{19} As the Court of Appeals correctly noted, it is not enough for the public employees to have a duty-that duty must fit within the legislative intent of the Tort Claims Act waiver in order to state a meritorious claim for relief. ; see also (school district's non-delegable duty to take reasonable precautions against inherent dangers in specially dangerous work done by an independent contractor gives rise to strict liability, which is not actionable under the Tort Claims Act). In other words, the purpose of the agency's duty must be consistent with the purpose of the waiver in Section 41-4-6. One of the purposes of the Municipal Housing Law is to impose on the Authority duties of operating and maintaining safe housing for those otherwise unable to secure it. See NMSA 1978, § 3-45-2(E) (1965) (the Legislature enacted the Municipal Housing Law for the express purpose of "providing safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations for persons of low means "); 42 U.S.C. § 1437 (1988) (the express purpose of the federal program is to "assist the several States and their political subdivisions to remedy the unsafe and unsanitary housing conditions and the acute shortage of decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings for families of lower income," and federal policy is "to vest in local public housing agencies the maximum amount of responsibility in the administration of their housing programs"). Similarly, the Legislature intended the building waiver to ensure that public employees fulfill their duties of operation or maintenance in such a way as to keep public housing projects reasonably safe for participants. See (the duty of county to keep premises safe from reasonably known dangerous conditions matched precisely with the Legislative intent of Section 41- 4-6 to ensure that public employees fulfill their duties to operate and maintain in such a way to keep buildings safe for public use); see also NMSA 1978, § 41-4-3(E)(2) (1991). The fact that Doña Ana County chose to use privately-owned buildings instead of constructing or acquiring its own to deliver services to the poor of Doña Ana County does not alter the duties imposed on Defendants by law. See ) (concluding that the legislature intended that there be no material distinction between clients receiving habilitation services at private facilities and those receiving them at state-owned facilities). The duties to operate and maintain imposed by the Municipal Housing A
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