Sarah B. Kline v. 1500 Massachusetts Avenue Apartment Corporation, 439 F.2d 477 (1970)

Citation: Sarah B. Kline v. 1500 Massachusetts Avenue Apartment Corporation, 439 F.2d 477 (1970)
Parent Document: Sarah B. Kline v. 1500 Massachusetts Avenue Apartment Corporation, 439 F.2d 477 (1970)
Jurisdiction: DC (municipal)
Effective Date: 1970-09-08
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/295292/sarah-b-kline-v-1500-massachuset... ↗

Full Text

906 chars

11
As a general rule, a private person does not have a duty to protect another from a criminal attack by a third person. We recognize that this rule has sometimes in the past been applied in landlord-tenant law, even by this court.6 Among the reasons for the application of this rule to landlords are: judicial reluctance to tamper with the traditional common law concept of the landlord-tenant relationship; the notion that the act of a third person in committing an intentional tort or crime is a superseding cause of the harm to another resulting therefrom; the oftentimes difficult problem of determining foreseeability of criminal acts; the vagueness of the standard which the landlord must meet; the economic consequences of the imposition of the duty; and conflict with the public policy allocating the duty of protecting citizens from criminal acts to the government rather than the private sector.

Other Sections in This Document (253)

Full Text