Court Opinion

ID: 9794237
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:01:46.437525+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:13:14.045486
License: Public Domain

Young, C. J.,
with whom Steffen, J., agrees, dissenting:
I submit that the result of the majority’s decision will be the expansion of landlord liability in this state. It could make landlords liable for injuries suffered by third parties a substantial distance from the landlord’s property as a result of a tenant’s tortious conduct.
While courts may impose legal duties when none existed previously, such an imposition should be exercised with extreme care. Georgianna v. Gizzy, 483 N.Y.S.2d 892, 894 (App.Div. 1984). Generally, when a landlord is out of possession of leased property and the tenant has exclusive control of the premises, the landlord is not responsible for injuries from animals kept by tenants on the leased property. Vigil By and Through Vigil v. Payne, 725 P.2d 1155, 1157 (Colo.Ct.App. 1986). When courts have found liability, it is predicated upon existence of two criteria: (1) the landlord’s actual knowledge of the animal’s vicious propensities, and *620(2) the landlord’s retention of substantial control over the premises. Georgianna, 483 N.Y.S.2d at 893. Neither element is present in this case.
When the premises were leased, Schum was informed only that the tenants had a “small to medium-sized house dog.” It is not uncommon for dogs to fight amongst themselves. Knowledge of a dog’s propensity to attack other dogs is not the equivalent of knowledge that the dog will attack a human being. Banks v. Adair, 251 S.E.2d 88, 89 (Ga.Ct.App. 1978). No evidence exists to indicate that Schum knew of the likelihood of an attack by Buddy upon a person. Thus, the “actual knowledge” requirement is missing in this case.
Nor does the evidence suggest that Schum retained substantial control over the premises after he gave up possession to the Pitzers. Absent an agreement to the contrary, the lessor surrenders both possession and control of the land to the lessee, retaining only a reversionary interest. Strunk v. Zoltanski, 466 N.Y.S.2d 716, 717 (App.Div. 1983). Although the lease agreement reserved to Schum the right to enter and inspect the premises, and to approve or veto any repairs or alterations, Schum did not reserve any portion of the property for his own use. Inasmuch as Schum did not maintain substantial control over the leased premises, the second Georgianna criterion is also absent. Therefore, under generally recognized case law, liability does not exist in this case.
According to the majority, however, Schum’s liability rests on his negligent undertaking of a duty owed by the Pitzers to safeguard passersby who might receive injuries from the Pitzers’ dog.1 The record indicates that after Schum discussed their dog’s *621behavior with the Pitzers, the Pitzers agreed to keep the dog in the house or on a chain. Obviously, the Pitzers did not properly implement this plan, or else this tragedy would not have occurred. However, Schum’s discussion with the Pitzers as to how their dog might be maintained more securely is not equivalent to the landlord undertaking a duty owed by the tenant to third parties to restrain the dog’s aggressive behavior.2
The majority concedes that “Schum cannot be held liable by reason of his status as a landlord.” Nevertheless, it concludes that Schum’s mere acquiescence in a plan (negligently implemented by the Pitzers) to keep the dog on a chain or in the house somehow spawned what appears to be an unlimited duty to anyone injured by the dog whether on the premises, nearby the premises, or blocks away.
The majority cites Garrison Retirement Home Corp. v. Hancock, 484 So.2d 1257 (Fla.App.Dist. 1985), as authority for its contention that Schum undertook to assure performance of the Pitzers’ duty to protect others against the risk of a dog attack. However, Garrison involved a retirement home with a professional responsibility to supervise and control the activities of its mostly senile, elderly residents. In this case, Schum wielded neither substantial power nor control over his tenants’ conduct. His mere acquiescence in the Pitzers’ plan to control their dog falls far short of the professional obligation owed by the appellant retirement home in Garrison. Therefore, Garrison is clearly distinguishable from the case at hand.
The majority asserts that landlord status is not part of the liability equation. Ironically, however, it bases its theory of liability on the idea that Schum, “using his power and authority [as a landlord] over Pitzer,” assumed the duty of securing the dog. (Emphasis added.) Although the majority would find an undertaking in this case on the ground that Schum (again as a landlord!) had the power to control the acts of the Pitzers in protecting the public, we believe that this “power” is illusory. As discussed above, Schum surrendered both possession and control of his property to the Pitzers. Strunk v. Zoltanski, 466 N.Y.S.2d 716, 717 (App.Div. 1983). Without maintaining substantial con*622trol over the leased premises, we fail to comprehend how Schum had the power to control his lessees.
Moreover, although the majority finds that mere advice or warning would not create an undertaking, it fails to define any real parameters for the duty perceived by it when one, not a landlord, offers to assist with a problem created by another’s negligence. If a friend of the tenants had offered assistance in chaining the dqg, would that friend thereafter be liable for injuries caused by the dog? What if a neighbor complained to the landlord that instead of a dog, the tenants had a teen-age son who drank to excess before driving? Would the landlord be liable if he suggested to the tenant that the son should be allowed to drive only under carefully monitored conditions, and thereafter the tenant’s son, while driving under the influence, injured a third party? It is easy to envision an almost infinite variety of circumstances when a lessor of property — agricultural, commercial or residential — if advised of the questionable deportment of a lessee, might, under the rationale of the majority, be called upon to respond in damages. Until we can devise rational limits for this novel theory, it would be irresponsible to unleash such a doctrine in our increasingly litigious society.
The majority cites Turpel v. Sayles, 101 Nev. 35, 692 P.2d 1290 (1985), for the proposition that a landlord could be liable for negligence not as a landlord or owner, but because of a failure to exercise care not to subject others to an unreasonable risk of harm. However, as the majority admits, in Turpel, the property owner’s “duty of reasonable care” was related to her position as an owner/landlord, and she would have incurred “no duty apart from this status.”
In the instant case, the majority introduces its rationale for Schum’s liability with the following: “Schum, going beyond his role as mere owner and landlord, decided to eliminate the risks associated with his tenants’ keeping a pit bulldog on the rental premises.” However, the majority goes on to declare that “[ujsing his [landlord’s] power of eviction3 to force compliance with his intentions, Schum undertook to ‘take care of the problem’ of a dangerous dog.” (Emphasis added.) Accordingly, the majority is unable to divorce Schum’s status as a landlord from his role in this case.
*623Thus, the general duty my colleagues perceive herein of reasonable care to third parties is in reality a duty of care as a landlord. This is the cornerstone of the majority’s finding of liability. Whether elliptically or candidly embraced, such a doctrine will bring a harvest of increasing litigation in claimants’ ceaseless quest for more defendants and deeper pockets.
Moreover, once our courts find landlords liable to third parties for negligence of tenants, imposition of strict liability on landlords may not be far behind. Love, Landlord’s Liability for Defective Premises: Caveat Lessee, Negligence, or Strict Liability, 1975 Wis. L. Rev. 19, 157-158. Courts might feel an irresistible temptation to impose strict liability on the theory that, as the “deep pocket,” a landlord is in the best position to bear and distribute the risks of loss attributable to the business of leasing. Id. This contingency, as well as the liability imposed by the majority herein, would have profound implications for property owners — and for renters who will eventually bear this burden.
A landlord is not an insurer of his tenant’s safety, nor of the safety of the people whom his tenant invites onto the leased property. Strunk v. Zoltanski, 466 N.Y.S.2d 716, 719 (App.Div. 1983) (Rubin, J., dissenting). Moreover, when a landlord has delivered possession and control of his property to a tenant, he should not, absent the unique circumstances defined in Georgianna, 483 N.Y.S.2d at 893, be held liable to third persons for injuries sustained as a result of misconduct of the tenant. National Tea v. Gaylord Discount Dept. Stores, 427 N.E.2d 345, 348 (Ill.App.Ct. 1981). With regard to third persons, tenants occupy a position on a parity with that of an owner in possession. Knox v. Gray, 712 S.W.2d 914, 915 (Ark. 1986). If society wants the above well recognized principles changed to create additional defendants, it should be done by a legislative act, not by judicial decision.
Since Jason Wright may bring a cause of action for negligence against the Pitzers, he is not without a legal remedy. Therefore, I would affirm the decision of the district court.

 The majority contends that Schum’s duty arises from section 324A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. That section provides:
One who undertakes, gratuitously, or for consideration, to render services to another which he should recognize as necessary for the protection of a third person or his things, is subject to liability to the third person for physical harm resulting from his failure to exercise reasonable care to protect his undertaking, if
(a) his failure to exercise reasonable care increases the risk of such harm, or
(b) he has undertaken to perform a duty owed by the other to the third person, or
(c) the harm is suffered because of reliance of the other or the third person upon the undertaking.
(Majority’s emphasis.)
However, as described herein, Schum never undertook to perform a duty owed by the Pitzers to third parties. Therefore, section 324A is inapposite to the instant case.

 The majority characterizes the result of this discussion as a “forced agreement” in which “Schum and Pitzer then came to a mutual understanding that Pitzer would be allowed by Schum to remain on the premises provided that Pitzer promised to keep the dog in the house or on the chain.” However, at trial, Schum testified that he believed that he had no legal right to evict the Pitzers. Accordingly, the record belies the majority’s suggestion that Schum imposed on the Pitzers a plan for controlling the dog.

 Ironically, although the majority disclaims any relationship between Schum’s landlord status and his liability in this case, it emphasizes that Schum had the “power of eviction” over the Pitzers. However, eviction of a tenant is commonly a difficult and frustrating process. Thus, the majority ignores the reality of contemporary landlord-tenant relations when it implies that Schum could have easily resolved the situation by evicting the Pitzers.