Scott v. Garfield, 454 Mass. 790 (2009)

Citation: Scott v. Garfield, 454 Mass. 790 (2009)
Parent Document: Scott v. Garfield, 454 Mass. 790 (2009)
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date: 2009-09-15
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/6580039/scott-v-garfield/ ↗

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Moreover, we have long since eliminated much of the legal significance attached to the question of status in our tort law. See Mounsey v. Ellard, 363 Mass. 693 (1973) (doing away with distinctions between categories of licensee and invitee and holding that landowner owes duty of reasonable care to all lawful visitors). A tenant’s guest may recover damages from a landlord for personal injuries caused by negligent maintenance of the premises rented to the tenant. See Young v. Garwacki, 380 Mass. 162, 168 (1980). Logic, therefore, compels our conclusion that a lawful visitor may also recover for personal injuries caused by a breach of the warranty of habitability. To decide otherwise would create or maintain a type of distinction based on status that we long ago rejected. It would not stand to reason that where a tenant and a lawful visitor both suffered injuries on the tenant’s rented premises, caused by the same significant defect in violation of the sanitary code, the tenant might recover on a breach of warranty claim, while the tenant’s guest could recover only in negligence, thus subjecting only the guest to a comparative negligence defense. See Correia v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., supra (comparative negligence statute, G. L. c. 231, § 85, not applicable to breach of warranty claim).7

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