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Coulter Property Management Inc. v. James12/17/1998
Argued and submitted September 10, 1997.
The decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded to that court to consider petitioner's cross-appeal.
VAN HOOMISSEN, J.
This is a landlord-tenant personal injury action. We address two questions on review: First, do the habitability requirements of the 1991 version of the Oregon Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (RLTA), ORS 90.100 et seq. (1991) require that a tenant prove that the landlord knew or should have known of an alleged habitability violation? Both the circuit court and the Court of Appeals concluded that the 1991 RLTA requires proof of actual or constructive knowledge. Coulter Property Management, Inc. v. James, 138 Or App 568, 910 P2d 397 (1996). However, we recently reached the opposite Conclusion in Davis v. Campbell, 327 Or 584, 965 P2d 1017 (1998). Accordingly, we reverse that part of the Court of Appeals' decision without further Discussion.
The second question is whether the principles set out in section 358 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts (1965), should continue to govern a landlord's common-law liability to a tenant. The circuit court chose not to apply section 358 and, instead, applied a general foreseeability standard. The Court of Appeals reversed, concluding that section 358 is the appropriate source of law. Coulter Property Management, 138 Or App at 573-74. As discussed below, we disagree with that Conclusion as well. Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals and remand the case to that court to consider tenant's cross-appeal.
The following facts are undisputed. Samuel James (tenant) leased a unit in the Mitchell Court Apartments in Portland beginning in July 1992. Coulter Property Management, Inc. (landlord) had been managing those apartments since January 1992. In February 1993, tenant was injured when he and two guests fell from the unit's second-story balcony after the balcony's railing came loose. Neither tenant nor landlord knew that the railing, which had been inspected on various earlier occasions, presented a safety hazard. After the incident, tenant failed to pay rent when due, and landlord brought a forcible entry and detainer action.
In response, tenant filed counterclaims against landlord including a common-law negligence claim and a statutory claim for damages under the RLTA. The thrust of tenant's negligence claim was that landlord had failed to inspect the railing or properly maintain it. In defense, landlord argued that it had no notice of any defect in the railing and that tenant had been engaging in horseplay with his guests on the balcony and was intoxicated when the accident occurred.
Before trial, landlord dismissed its forcible entry and detainer claim. Proceedings before the jury, therefore, involved only tenant's counterclaims. At the close of tenant's case, landlord moved for a directed verdict against the RLTA claim. The circuit court allowed that motion, but permitted tenant to amend his common-law negligence counterclaim to include the alleged RLTA habitability violations as specifications of landlord's negligence. As a result of those and other motions and stipulations concerning tenant's claims, the circuit court submitted to the jury only tenant's negligence claim, augmented by the RLTA-based specifications of negligence.
A disagreement arose as to the proper standard of care that a landlord owes a tenant under the common law. Landlord argued that section 358 of the Restatement provides the appropriate standard. Based on that argument, landlord proffered two instructions, which provided in part:
"Under Oregon law, Coulter Property Management, as t
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