Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
Death / Negligence / Sr. Housing Facility
My mom lived alone in a low-income senior housing facility. My sister received a call from the manager asking if she had a key to my mom's apartment. My sister left a voicemail explaining that she did not, and asked for clarification on the call. The manager did not return this or any other calls.
After not hearing back from the building manager for two days, my sister visited my mom's apartment. She found her car in her space, newspapers piled up at her door, and heard her dog inside (obvious signs that something was wrong). She met with neighbors who had reported a possible problem to the mgr earlier in the week. The handy man told her that they'd tried to enter the apartment but were unsuccessful (they lost their own key). The mgr failed to inform us of any of this or return our calls. Instead, the onsite manager left town for the weekend.
The police broke down the door and, sadly, found our mother's decomposed body. Evidence suggests that she had been dead for at least 4 days. The coroner advised that viewing our mother would have long lasting psychological damage, so we laid her to rest sight unseen.
What responsibility does a senior facility have to respond to tenant needs? Which agency should I contact? Thanks.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Death / Negligence / Sr. Housing Facility
This is like a law school question. Very tough. There are theories for recovery, its true. But, I don't like the odds enough of a sufficient recovery to make it worth the work. I'm sure you can find an attorney that thinks otherwise, though.
Re: Death / Negligence / Sr. Housing Facility
I'm sorry to hear about your loss and about the circumstances. I'm not sure, though, that you have a case against the facility.
To win a negligence action you have to prove, among other things, that the defendant breached a duty and that the breach caused harm. Merely being a landlord does not create a legal duty to come to the rescue of tenants in their homes (unless the landlord created the danger). Thus, even a landlord who actually knows someone is dying behind a locked door would normally have no legal duty to intervene. You describe the building as a "a low-income senior housing facility", so it may have had special terms in its lease agreements giving the landlord duties it otherwise would not have had. Alternatively, it might be subject to some sort of law or regulation that imposes such duties. If it is just a traditional landlord, though, you may be out of luck.
A second problem is the issue of causation. The timeline you provide is a bit vague, but it sounds like your mother had already passed away before the manager tried to intervene. Leaving you in the lurch for two days under these circumstances was terrible, but if your mother had already died then this conduct had nothing to do with her death -- a fact which would defeat a negligence claim.
You ask what responsibility the facility had to respond to your mother's needs, but your question seems to presume that it knew what those needs were. This is not necessarily true. For all the manager likely knew, your mother might have taken a trip and forgotten to cancel her newspaper. (Some dogs are paper-trained and can be left at home for days; others can spend most of their time alone with a few brief visits by a dog-sitter.)
Finally, in case you are wondering whether your emotional distress (rather than your mother's death) could support a negligence claim, I'm afraid the answer is probably no. Any duty the facility had to your mother probably did not extend to you; if the facility owed you no duty then it could not have breached one and thus could not be liable to you on this ground.
Sorry I can't be more encouraging.
Re: Death / Negligence / Sr. Housing Facility
Condolences on your loss, as well as circumstances surrounding it.
Mr. Hoffman has given an incredibly thorough and accurate answer. I couldn't possibly improve, or add to it.
Follow his advice, and remember that not everything in law is a cause of action that a plaintiff can win in court.
Good luck!
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
