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Childs v. Purll9/8/2005
), or in any quantity sufficient to constitute a hazard to the health of any resident of the residential premises or any regular visitor to the residential premises who spends a substantial portion of his or her time in the residential premises.
This provision was intended to protect children from the grave health hazard created by exposure to lead-based paint. Young children, "whose nervous systems are still developing, are particularly vulnerable to the damage caused by lead poisoning. High blood lead levels can produce brain damage, coma or death, and even relatively low levels can lead to significant nervous system damage." Juarez v. Wavecrest Mgmt. Team Ltd., 672 N.E.2d 135, 139 (N.Y. 1996) (citations omitted).
Appellants may be able to prove that their tenancy at 1411 Ridge Place was in violation of § 707.3, as it is undisputed that the landlord and its management company were notified in the lease agreements that Tiffany Childs and Robbie Davis were under eight years of age, and the defendants have made no showing that the dwelling they leased to appellants was lead-free within the meaning of the regulation.
"The general rule in this jurisdiction is that where a particular statutory or regulatory standard is enacted to protect persons in the plaintiff's position or to prevent the type of accident that occurred, and the plaintiff can establish his relationship to the statute, unexplained violation of that standard renders the defendant negligent as a matter of law." Chadbourne v. Kappaz, 779 A.2d 293, 295 (D.C. 2001) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted); see also Zhou v. Jennifer Mall Restaurant, Inc., 534 A.2d 1268, 1273 (D.C. 1987) ("The rule that violation of an ordinance intended to promote public safety is negligence . . . is rooted in the principle that failure to comply with a statutory requirement designed to protect public safety is to fall short of the standard of diligence to which those who live in organized society are under a duty to conform.") (internal quotation marks, brackets and citations omitted). This general rule has long been applied to violations of the Housing Regulations. See, e.g., Whetzel v. Jess Fisher Mgmt. Co., 108 U.S. App. D.C. 385, 392-93, 282 F.2d 943, 950-51 (1960).
Subject to the foregoing principles, we have said that "the Housing Regulations impose only a duty of reasonable care upon owners of rental property." Scoggins v. Jude, 419 A.2d 999, 1005 (D.C. 1980). Similarly, we have stated as a general proposition that" he Housing Regulations do not impose immediate and unconditional liability upon a landlord for code violations but, instead, contemplate sanctions only if repairs are not effected after actual or constructive notice of the defect reaches the landlord." George Washington University v. Weintraub, 458 A.2d 43, 47-48 (D.C. 1983). But " uch notice need not be given by the tenant," nor by "official notice" of a violation from the municipal authorities, "if the landlord, in the exercise of reasonable care, could have become aware of the defective condition." Id. at 48 & n.8. Thus, a landlord's duty is to "exercise reasonable care to maintain rental premises in compliance with the housing code." Id. at 49. Generally speaking, a landlord who fulfills that duty "may not therefore properly be held liable to a tenant for losses that arise from defective conditions he neither knew of nor had reason to know about or that could not be foreseen or prevented." Id.
In § 707.3, we have before us a particular Housing Regulation that is designed to protect public safety and that requires landlords to be proactive when its specified preconditions are satisfied. Upon notification that the prospective tenant
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