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DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Willard v. PARSONS HILL PARTNERSHIP, 2005 VT 69 (2005)

Citation
Willard v. PARSONS HILL PARTNERSHIP, 2005 VT 69 (2005)
Parent Document
Willard v. PARSONS HILL PARTNERSHIP, 2005 VT 69 (2005)
Jurisdiction
Vermont (state)
Effective Date
2005-08-05

Other Sections in This Document (143)

Full Text

1,685 chars
Johnson, J.
¶ 1. Plaintiffs sue their landlord and others for damages, alleging a knowing and willful breach of the common-law warranty of habitability. Plaintiffs claim that landlord knowingly supplied its tenants with water containing levels of toxins well in excess of public health standards for approximately fourteen years. Plaintiffs further allege that, despite a “Do Not Drink” order issued by the Department of Health, defendants took no action to notify tenants of the problem, or to fix it. Defendants moved for summary judgment, arguing that plaintiffs’ claims under the common law were preempted by statute, and that, notwithstanding plaintiffs’ allegation of lack of knowledge, plaintiffs could not satisfy the elements of the statutory cause of action because no tenants had notified landlord of the breach. To the extent that there was notification, defendants argued that the water system was fixed in a timely manner following receipt of the written notice from some of the tenants. In addition, the individual partners of the landlord argued that they were not proper parties to plaintiffs’ suit. Defendants also cross-claimed against a contractor under an express indemnity agreement related to work the contractor performed on the water system that was eventually identified as the source of the contamination. The trial court granted summary judgment for all defendants, and dismissed defendants’ cross-claim. We reverse and remand on plaintiffs’ claim under the common law, and hold that it is not preempted by a statute that is addressed solely to patent defects that tenants are capable of discovering. We affirm the trial court’s judgment on the cross-claim.