O'Neill v. Windshire-Copeland Associates, L.P.

On July 30, 2003, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit entered an order of certification requesting that we exercise our certification jurisdiction, Va. Const, art. VI, § 1, Rule 5:42, and answer the following question:

If the defendant-owner of an apartment building is negligent per se because the protective railing on its apartment balcony does not comply with the height requirements of a municipal building code, and if that negligence is a proximate cause of the plaintiff’s fall from the balcony and her resulting injuries, is the plaintiff’s contributory negligence…