Yates v. Crumbley

Hall, Judge.

The defendant contends that under these circumstances the plaintiff was only a licensee on the stairway and as a landlord he owed to her only the duty not to wilfully or wantonly injure her. The issue is whether the facts in the petition show that the plaintiff was a social invitee of the upstairs tenant. To such a person the landlord would owe the duty to exercise ordinary care to keep the premises in repair and free of defective construction. Code § 61-112.

Irrespective of whether the plaintiff would have been impliedly invited to the upstairs apartment because of the fact that…