Question

Philip Laws leased an apartment from Candice Sutton. Laws had notified Sutton on more than one occasion that the wooden steps to his apartment were decaying and in need of repair. Laws claimed that he had to leave the outside light on to avoid portions of the steps that no longer would bear his weight when he came in at night. Sutton promised to repair the steps while Laws was away on a business trip. Accordingly, Laws did not leave lights on during his absence. When he returned three nights later, Laws was injured when one of the steps broke under his weight as he was entering his apartment. Laws sued Sutton. Sutton replied that she should not bear liability for Laws' injury because Laws knew of the condition of the steps and had not taken the customary precaution of lighting the area. Based on what you have learned in this chapter, decide the case.

Answer 1

Answer: both of them will have the fault.

Explanation:well, if I were to be the Judge of this case, I will hold both to be at fault. On Sutton's part, she leased the house out and she should have kept it in a good shape. Though the house was not in good shape, Laws had lodge series of complaints concerning the disrepair, which means that Sutton should have had it repaired.

Sutton promised Laws that he was going to repair the stairs, so, I would say, Laws would have assumed that Sutton would have repaired the stairs before he(laws) returned back from his business trip.

However, we should not forget that whenever we assess a situation according to the law there must have been a legal contract but in this case, Laws never entered into a contract with Sutton to make the repairs. Which means that Laws cannot fully blame Sutton. Therefore, i will hold both responsible.