Opinion ID: 1057685
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The tenant’s lease should be terminated.

Text: In response to the motion for summary judgment by MHA, the Plaintiffs submitted exhibits establishing that Miller had been charged with aggravated assault in 1979 and, in 1977, had pled guilty to firing a weapon within the city limits. There was no indication that MHA was aware of either incident. Further, the Plaintiffs also provided documentation of the 1998 altercation that resulted in the charge of aggravated assault against Miller. They also alleged that there had been between ten and twenty shooting incidents on the various MHA properties and numerous other assaults prior to the May 7, 2002 murder of Charles Cornelius Brown, Sr. Based upon the 1998 incident, the Plaintiffs argued that MHA had notice of Miller’s propensity for violence and reiterated their contention that MHA had failed to maintain a safe premises. They asserted that MHA had failed to observe its own internal policies which were designed to prevent violence on the part of its tenants. -3- The trial court held that neither the internal policies of MHA nor the contents of the criminal background check of Miller created any duty to the Plaintiffs under these circumstances. Moreover, after observing that a policy excluding those with prior records would result in “a massive underclass of ex-convicts homeless due to an inability to find housing,” the trial court rejected the Plaintiffs’ argument that there was an affirmative duty on the part of MHA to conduct a criminal background check on prospective residents. Finally, the trial court held that the Plaintiffs were not entitled to recover as third party beneficiaries for breach of the terms of the lease agreement between MHA and Miller. On direct appeal, the Plaintiffs argued that because MHA had some awareness of Miller’s propensity for violence and, therefore, had a duty to take reasonable steps to maintain a safe premises, the trial court erred by dismissing the alternative theories of recovery in tort and by contract. Based upon MHA’s prior knowledge of Miller’s violent behavior, the Plaintiffs contended that MHA had a duty to monitor his actions or evict him from the premises. The Court of Appeals affirmed the grant of summary judgment in favor of MHA, holding that “an isolated violent outburst by . . . Miller was [in]sufficient to notify MHA that criminal acts against its tenants were reasonably foreseeable, either generally or at some particular time” and, in consequence, insufficient to give rise to a duty in these circumstances. Giggers v. Memphis Hous. Auth., No. W2006-00304-COA-R3-CV, 2007 WL 2216553, at  (Tenn. Ct. App. Aug. 3, 2007). The Court of Appeals further held that a landlord has no affirmative duty to evict or closely monitor a tenant who is known to have a criminal history. Id. at . Considering the foreseeability and the gravity of the harm against the commensurate burden imposed on the landlord to provide protections against that harm, our intermediate court held generally, without specifically addressing the factors making up the balancing test, that public policy considerations weighed against the imposition of any duty. Id. Our Court of Appeals also considered the lease provision requiring MHA to “maintain the dwelling unit and development in decent, safe and sanitary condition” as a separate basis for liability, ruling that the language merely obligated the landlord to maintain the property so that the apartments and common areas were free from physical defects and concluding that the general rules of contract interpretation “did not contemplate protection of [tenants] from harm by third persons.” Id. at  (quoting Archer v. Burton Plaza Assocs., Ltd., No. 03A01-9511-CV-00417, 1996 WL 93584, at  (Tenn. Ct. App. Mar. 4, 1996)). We granted the application for permission to appeal to consider the propriety of the negligence claim and specifically whether MHA, having knowledge of Miller’s prior act of violence at the apartments, owed a duty to Charles Cornelius Brown, Sr.