Suing landlord for Negligence

[rgaddam17]

Hello,
The other day the heating unit in my apartment fell on my ankle. Apparently it was not secured to the ground and the moment I closed my restroom door, it fell. I had to rush to the ER. Ended up getting a few stitches and in tremendous amount of pain. I will not be able to go to work for atleast 2 - 3 weeks and cant start to imagine if this would have any consequence to my job( due to the current job market). Can I take any action against the landlord. I would appreciate any advice regarding this.

Thanks.

I doubt it. To prove negligence on your LL's part, you have to prove he knew about the problem before the incident occurred, and that he failed to act upon it. Unless you had reported this appliance as having a problem or being unsecured (and being able to thus prove he had 1) knowledge of the problem) and be able to show that he had 2) a sufficient amount of time to make repairs but failed to do so (many states allow up to 30 days to repair non-emergency problems), you can't prove negligence. Sorry.

Agreed. But isnt it the LL's responsibility to make sure that all the heating units are secured to the ground before giving it for rent. I moved-in in Feb 2008 and had no knowledge that the heating unit was not secured. Had I known I would have put in a work order to fix it.

Thanks

Allow me to play devil's advocate for a minute.

The LL had no more knowledge of that heating unit than you did. So he is no more negligent for not checking it than you are. Contrary to your belief, LLs don't spend each day walking around units pulling on things, looking for unsecured items. Why would he do this, when you didn't do it when you looked at the unit prior to signing or when you walked through the unit to do your move-in inspection? Shouldn't both of you had a responsibility to check it? Yet, neither of you did.

If the previous tenant used that heater and did not report a problem with it, he honestly believed that there was nothing wrong. Most LLs don't enter a unit except for repairs after a reported problem or to show the unit to a new tenant. They don't spend any length of time in them. The last tenant spent months or years living in there but didn't find a problem. You've been there 7 months and didn't know it. How would a LL know after spending only a few minutes in there? Didn't you use this heater when you first moved in in February? Shouldn't you have noticed a problem then?

So you have had much more first hand knowledge of that heater than the LL would have. He probably has never used the heater at all other than to turn it to minimal heat for a showing. You have had months of opportunity to use it, and should have been using it for the first few months when you moved in. So, had you known, you would have put in a work order on it. Had he known, he would have repaired it and had it properly secured. Sorry, he's not negligent.