Court Opinion

ID: 9761097
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:31:36.370742+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:21:04.865440
License: Public Domain

*274BROSKY, Judge,
concurring.
I am in agreement with the majority’s finding that appellant failed to present a 'prima facie case of negligence under § 364 of the Restatement, Second, of Torts, and, failed to meet her burden of proof required regarding the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. Hence, I am constrained to agree that the trial court properly prevented the case from proceeding to the jury and granted appellees’ motion for a compulsory nonsuit.
I wish to note that I empathize with the plight of appellant, who clearly suffered inconvenience and damage as a result of the backing-up of the sewer system into her bathroom. It is truly unfortunate that in the instant case she will not be compensated for all of her damages. Yet, as the majority has so clearly set forth, appellant and similarly situated condominium unit owners possess remedies for instances when damages are occasioned upon them by the intentional or negligent acts of the condominium association or the agents or employees of the association. § 364 Restatement (Second) of Torts; 68 Pa.C.S. § 3311(a)(2), (4).1
It is interesting to note that in Arnold v. New City Condominiums Corp., 78 A.D.2d 882, 433 N.Y.S.2d 196 (1980), New York permitted a condominium unit owner to institute a negligence action against the developer of the condominium building (alleged defects in the drainage system resulted in the flooding of the basements of individual condominium units; the defect was in the common elements of the condominium). In Arnold the developer filed a motion for summary judgment against the unit owner and the trial court denied the motion. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York then affirmed the trial court’s order and the case proceeded to trial.2
*275In Schoninger v. Yardarm Beach Homeowners’ Association, Inc., 134 A.D.2d 1, 523 N.Y.S.2d 523 (1987), a condominium unit owner initiated an action against the condominium board of managers and the condominium association, seeking injunctive relief compelling the defendants to, inter alia, make such repairs as were necessary to the common elements of the condominium buildings. The plaintiff alleged that various common elements of the properties had been improperly designed and constructed and were being improperly maintained. Although the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York found that the trial court erred in failing to grant the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, the condominium unit owner submitted the affidavit of an architect retained by her as an expert and the expert expounded upon specific defects in the common elements of the properties. This type of evidence is clearly more beneficial to a plaintiffs case than general allegations unsupported by expert evidence.
The majority notes that appellant would have been in a better position if she had analogized her relationship to the condominium association as that of landlord-tenant relationship. In McGowan v. Devonshire Hall Apartments, 278 Pa.Super. 229, 420 A.2d 514 (1980), a tenant sued her landlord, upon the theory of res ipsa loquitur, for injuries sustained as a result of a malfunction in the operation of an elevator located on one of the common elements of the apartment building. The landlord joined the elevator service company. The verdict was against the landlord and our Court affirmed. In McGowan the plaintiff testified as to the details of the accident. There was also detailed testimony from inspectors from the service company, who provided information regarding the operation of and repairs to the elevator. There was also testimony from an elevator inspector who was an employee of a subsidiary of the liability carrier of the landlord. He testified regarding the impossibility of the occurrence of the accident as described by the plaintiff. All of the aforemen*276tioned testimony was certainly relevant in proving or disproving a plaintiffs allegations in a landlord-tenant case, or by analogy, a condominium unit owner-condominium association case.

. See majority memorandum, at pages 264, 265.

. Additionally, the condominium association may have standing to represent the individual condominium unit owners in a lawsuit, against the condominium developers, alleging defects in the construction of the condominium. 1000 Grandview Association v. Mt. Washington Association, 290 Pa.Super. 365, 434 A.2d 796 (1981). In 1000 Grandview Association the condominium association brought an action alleging *275specific and implied breaches of warranty for defects and omissions in the construction of the condominium.