7735 Hollywood Boulevard Venture v. Superior Court

In 7735 Hollywood Boulevard Venture v. Superior Court (1981) 116 Cal.App.3d 901, the plaintiff-tenant sought compensation from her landlord for the injuries she received as a result of a forcible rape committed upon her by an intruder who forced entry into her apartment. Plaintiff sought to hold the landlord liable on the ground that the landlord had knowledge that violent crimes, including burglary and rape, had occurred in the general area within the previous six months, and that the landlord was negligent in failing to replace a burned out light which illuminated the exterior of plaintiff's apartment. The court held that the complaint failed to state a cause of action. In this regard, the court made the following observations: "Plaintiff's position here, if accepted, would impose an affirmative duty, on any owner of rental property, to install security devices 'adequate' to deter crime, because under plaintiff's theory it was the lack of 'adequate' lighting which formed the basis for liability. That lack could include failure to install outside lighting in the first place as well as failure to maintain existing lighting . . . . "It would be intolerable and grossly unfair to permit a lay jury, after the fact, to determine in any case that security measures were 'inadequate,' especially in light of the fact that the decision would always be rendered in a case where the security had in fact proved to be inadequate. "A proprietor of premises is not the insurer of the safety of persons on those premises. His duty to control the acts of third persons is a duty of reasonable care to protect against known or reasonably foreseeable risks. He is not required to take precautions against attacks by third persons which he has no reason to anticipate." In 7735 Hollywood Blvd. Venture v. Superior Court (1981) a tenant was raped in her apartment by an intruder who forced entrance into it. Her complaint sought compensatory and punitive damages on the basis of a combination of the landlord's knowledge of burglary and rape in the "general area, vicinity and neighborhood" in recent months and the landlord's failure to replace a burned-out light bulb outside her apartment. In sustaining the demurrer, the appellate court noted that the complaint failed to allege that the property itself was defective in any regard or to plead sufficient facts to establish a duty on the part of the landlord, as no causal connection was established between the landlord's alleged wrongful act and the injury.