State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Home Insurance Co.

This case concerns the validity of an exculpatory clause contained in an apartment lease.

In October, 1974 Charlotte Kirsch and her son moved into a ground floor apartment located in Burlington, Wisconsin. The apartment building was owned by Manuel Mendez who employed Lawrence Middleton to act as caretaker. Kirsch occupied the apartment for one month before she was required to sign a one-year lease on November 7, 1974. The lease contained an exculpatory clause which stated, in part, that the “[l]essor . . . shall not be liable for any damage done or occasioned by or from plumbing, gas, water,…