Corbin v. Buchanan

In a wrongful death action, defendant Town of Brattleboro appeals from a jury verdict in favor of decedent’s estate for compensatory and punitive damages arising out of the Town’s alleged failure to properly inspect premises where decedent was killed in a fire. Plaintiff cross-appeals on the issue of the allocation of damages. We reverse.

In 1986, a third-floor apartment in Brattleboro inhabited by a seven-year-old boy and his father was destroyed by a fire that was apparently started by a cigarette dropped by the father’s girlfriend. No smoke detectors had been installed in the apartment,…