The Weatherbees complained to their landlord that they were always soaked because the tenant in the apartment above never drew his shower curtains. The landlord collected damages from the tenant. He did not, however, halt the careless showering or reimburse the Weatherbees for their damages. So they sued him on both counts.
"We're paying for a roof, not a sieve, over our heads," they complained. "Our landlord should reimburse us for the damage already done to our place and because he failed to stop it sooner."
"The apartment services do not include refereeing disagreements between tenants, and that's what this amounts to," the landlord replied. "I didn't turn on the shower, and I'm not responsible for turning it off."
If you were the judge, would you make the landlord pay?
The landlord did not have to pay. The court said he was not obligated to "prevent his tenants from annoying each other or from trespassing upon each other's rights." Tenants in those circumstances, it added, should sue the other tenant.
Based upon a 1951 New York decision.
-- José Schorr
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