Doe v. Hunter Oaks Apartments, L.P.

MAXWELL, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. “It is basic tort law that before one can be found negligent he must owe a duty to the injured party.”1 Here, Jane Doe, the manager of Shadowbrook Apartments, sued Hunter Oaks Apartments L.P., an adjacent apartment complex, alleging the brother of one of Hunter Oaks’ tenants went through a hole in Shadowbrook’s fence and sexually assaulted Doe in Sha-dowbrook’s office. Doe sought to hold Hunter Oaks liable for her assailant’s criminal act because it did not evict the attacker’s brother or repair the hole in Shadowbrook’s fence. The circuit court granted summary…