Court Opinion

ID: 9851195
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:08:46.749209+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:51.101624
License: Public Domain

McMurray, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Although a landlord is not an insurer of his tenant’s safety, the landlord does not become a bystander (free of accountability) simply because the tenant takes possession of the rental unit. Warner v. Arnold, 133 Ga. App. 174, 179 (210 SE2d 350). On the contrary, this Court has held that, if there is “some evidence” that the landlord took on responsibility for “ ‘looking out for the safety of the apartment premises and the residents,’ there remain questions [as to] whether [the landlord] had assumed a duty to provide security for the apartment complex and whether that duty had been performed in a non-negligent manner. Cf. Godwin v. Olshan, 161 Ga. App. 35 (288 SE2d 850) (1982).” Cooperwood v. Auld, 175 Ga. App. 694, 695 (334 SE2d 22).
In the case sub judice, there is proof that B. C. Cloer took on responsibility for the safety of the rental complex at Tanaga Forest and its residents both before and after the burglary and assault of Carolyn Plott on April 19, 1990.1 Specifically, it is undisputed that Cloer’s full-time property manager, Sherry Windham, sent out a memorandum on March 30, 1990, warning Tanaga Forest residents that “[w]e had 3 apartments broken into Thursday evening, March 29.”2 Further, there is proof that Windham posted a letter to Tanaga Forest residents on April 19, 1990, acknowledging that there has been “quite a lot of disturbance in our area lately” and assuring the residents that “[w]e are doing everything possible to protect your best interests.” Further, Cloer admits (in his deposition) that he employs a full-time maintenance manager at Tanaga Forest, Jimmy Fowler, “to cover all maintenance calls and requests over all the rental property”; that he compensates Fowler to reside on premises at Tanaga Forest and that, while Fowler “is not a police officer[, he] is called on occasionally to referee disputes or whatever [at the complex].” Under these circumstances, and with proof that neither Windham nor Fowler advised Cloer’s tenants about a rash of crimes that had occurred in Tanaga Forest within a month before the burglary and assault upon Carolyn Plott (including two violent attacks against *133women), I believe that genuine issues of material fact remain as to “whether [Cloer] had assumed a duty to provide security for [his tenants at Tanaga Forest] and whether that duty had been performed in a non-negligent manner.” Cooperwood v. Auld, 175 Ga. App. 694, supra.
Decided November 22, 1995
McKinney & Salo, Jan McKinney, for appellants.
Chambers, Mabry, McClelland & Brooks, Genevieve L. Frazier, for appellee.
The case sub judice should go to a jury for resolution of the genuine issues of material fact.

 B. C. Cloer was the sole developer of Tanaga Forest, a townhouse community consisting of 78 or 80 residential units. Since development, Cloer has transferred about 25 percent of the complex to other investors, retaining approximately 58 rental units for himself.

 The full text of the memorandum provides as follows: “We had 3 apartments broken into Thursday evening, March 29. We want to caution all of you to make sure your windows and doors are properly secured. There have been no break in’s, that we are aware of, during the daytime hours. The police are investigating this matter.”