The owner of a building open to public use will be strictly liable for damage or injury resulting from a code violation, under a decision issued by Massachusetts' highest court. Overruling a 15-year precedent, the court held that strict liability is not limited to code violations affecting fire safety (the essence of a 1999 decision), but applies to any code violation of a building subject to public use.
The case is Sheehan v. Weaver, decided on April 10, 2014 and available here (subscription required). The inebriated plaintiff had leaned against a second-floor outdoor stair railing and was seriously injured when it gave way. The railing did not comply with the state building code. Sheehan sued, arguing that the language of a Massachusetts statute made the property owner strictly liable for any code violation, given the use of the word "building" in the following sentence:
The owner . . ., being the party in control, of a place of assembly, theatre, special hall, public hall, factory, workshop, manufacturing establishment or building shall comply with the provisions of . . . the state building code . . ., and such person shall be liable to any person injured for all damages caused by a violation of any of said provisions. [1]
But the Massachusetts court held that use of the word "building" in the context of other public use facilities is to be construed to mean a building subject to public use. "This interpretation properly focuses § 51 on structures in which building code violations pose a risk to a significant number of people, . . ." Just the same, the expansion of strict liability to any type of code violation is a significant change, and will likely bolster attempts to seek redress any time there is a code violation.
[1] Mass. Gen. Laws chapter 143, § 51.
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