George Washington University v. Weintraub

I respectfully dissent from three of this court’s rulings.

The trial court, first, denied recovery for the landlord’s alleged negligence. The court properly kept the burden of persuasion on the tenants but erred in declining to apply res ipsa loquitur on the tenants’ behalf. All three tests for res ipsa were met: the flooding of the apartment, attributable to water pressure buildup in a valve, does not ordinarily occur in the absence of negligence; an instrumentality within the landlord’s exclusive control — the valve apparatus in the plumbing system — apparently caused the flooding; and the…