Ruiz v. Pelson Realty Trust, 13 Mass. L. Rptr. 346 (2001)

*348There are three Superior Court decisions concerning essentially this same question with differing results. In Mitchell-Gionet v. Markowski, Civil Action No. 93-0903, 3 Mass. L. Rptr. 45 (Hampden Super.Ct. November 9, 1994) (Toomey, J.), a tenant and two guests were murdered when a perpetrator gained access to the tenant’s apartment through a door not properly maintained as prescribed by the State Sanitary Code and State Building Code. As administratrix and next friend of the guests, plaintiff claimed, inter alia, that defendant landlord had breached the warranty of habitability by failing to properly maintain the property in question. In denying defendant’s motion to dismiss, the court held that allowing non-tenants to enforce the warranty of habitability was “an extension of liability. . . clearly foreshadowed by analogous decisions of the court.” Id. at 2. The court found support for its conclusion primarily in Young v. Garwacki, 380 Mass. 162 (1980). In Young, the Supreme Judicial Court did away with the common law rule “bar[ring] a tenant’s guest from recovering compensation from a landlord for injuries caused by negligent maintenance of areas rented to the tenant.” Id. at 168. The court looked to “[r]ecent decisions of this court [which] clearly reflect[ed]... a shift in philosophy with regard to status distinctions in tort standards of care.” Id. at 167, quoting Poirier, 374 Mass at 221. See e.g., Mounsey v. Ellard, 363 Mass. 693 (1973) (eliminating the legal significance, in tort, of the distinctions between a licensee and invitee in connection with a landowner’s duty of care); and Lindsey v. Massios, 372 Mass. 79 (1977) (landlord’s duty of reasonable care to all visitors lawfully on the premises within his control extends to tenant’s guest).