Opinion ID: 1678065
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Reliance on Landlord-Tenant Law

Text: Boren first contends that the trial court erred by relying on a landlord-tenant case, Bartley v. Sweetser, 319 Ark. 117, 890 S.W.2d 250 (1994), which upheld the common-law principle that a landlord owes no duty of care to tenants for the criminal acts of other persons. While we agree with Boren that reliance solely on the Bartley v. Sweetser decision would be misplaced, the trial court stated further reasons for his decision to grant summary judgment, including the rationale employed in similar ATM cases from other jurisdictions cited by Worthen in its initial summary judgment brief. Moreover, the trial court acknowledged that Bartley v. Sweetser was a landlord-tenant case, but stated that it found the following reasoning employed in this case to be equally applicable in an ATM case: [T]he notion that the act of a third person in committing an intentional tort or crime is a superseding cause of harm to another...; the often times 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 the conflict with public policy allocating the duty of protecting citizens from criminal acts to the government rather than the private sector. Although we cannot say that the trial court relied primarily on Bartley v. Sweetser in reconsidering its early denial of summary judgment, Worthen certainly urged that the trial court do so. And, while some of the policy considerations articulated in Bartley v. Sweetser may also be applicable in determining the liability of a business owner for criminal acts committed on its premises by a third party, the analysis will not be. In Bartley v. Sweetser , we in essence recognized and adhered to our long-standing general rule that a landlord is under no legal obligation to a tenant for injuries sustained in common areas, absent a statute or agreement. We held that a landlord likewise had no duty to protect a tenant from criminal acts. This underlying general rule does not apply to injuries sustained by business invitees on business premises, and we agree that the Bartley v. Sweetser decision does not serve as precedent for this case.