Panama Canal Company v. Marian Wagner

RIVES, Circuit Judge.

Appellee was a tenant in an apartment building owned by appellant,1 and the rear stairs of which were maintained by *165appellant for the common use of appellee and other tenants. They were made of concrete with a concrete “parapet” running along the outside on which the hand could be rested but too large to grasp. Several of the concrete steps were worn, broken, and jagged “as far as maybe three inches or more.” The stairs were not lighted.

Nine days after her tenancy began, ap-pellee attempted her first night time descent of said stairs. Carrying a paper bag containing her…