Visitor cannot sue landlord after stairway collapses under him
Delano Parker was badly hurt while visiting his cousin's rented home. He was negotiating the basement stairs when a step "collapsed" under him. As he started to fall, he transferred his weight to the next-lower stair which also broke in half, causing him to fall the remaining "six or seven" steps to the basement floor.
Parker sued the landlord but his claim was summarily dismissed, and the dismissal was upheld by the Court of Appeals. The Court ruled that he had not adequately sustained his burden of showing that the landlord had reasonable notice of the defective status of the stairway. The case is Delano Parker v. Johnson Kennedy, III. Its a sad state of affairs when a landlord can allow his rented property to reach this state of disrepair without accountability.