Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Mississippi

Re: Injury on the Property

Yes, you can sue for damages, although your fault will probably be compared with theirs. If you knew that the deck was weak from a prior fall (or series of falls) then your negligence in going out and injuring your back will be offered to the jury as the cause of your injury and not the failure of the landlord to repair the property. I would advise you to see an attorney, however.

Yes, the landlord could attempt to evict you, and may well do that if you sue him. The question is, do you really want to stay in a place that isn't safe?

Re: Injury on the Property

I don't believe that you have too much of a case. To win a case, you must be able to prove that the landlord was negligent with regard to its maintenance of the deck. To prove that, you must show that the landlord knew the deck was weak or defective and (a) did not warn you about it, or (b) did not take action to correct it. If you can prove these things, you will probably lose because if the landlord could see or knew about the problems with the deck, so could you. If you couldn't see the problems with the deck, neither could the landlord and, therefore, the landlord did not have notice of the defective condition. The landlord must have prior notice of the defective condition, and you not have notice of the defective condition, in order for you to win. The Mississippi Supreme Court case of Sweatt vs. Murphy - http://www.mslawyer.com/mssc/cases/990128/9700638.html - outlines this principle well. Let me know if I can be of further assistance.