Court Reaffirms Long-Standing Precedent on Premises Liability - Articles

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Court Reaffirms Long-Standing Precedent on Premises Liability

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Jan 8, 2025

In a new opinion, the Tennessee Supreme Court has affirmed a damages award to a man who sustained serious injuries after falling on a pedestrian bridge at his apartment complex. The court ruled that the owner and operator of the complex, Mid-America Apartments (MAA), had a duty to maintain safe conditions on the bridge. The central issue in the case was whether the owner could have discovered the dangerous condition beforehand through proper diligence. The court concluded that the condition of the bridge was a “general or continuing condition” that was reasonably foreseeable. In a 4-1 decision, the court upheld the trial court’s damages award of more than $2 million to the plaintiff. The decision by the court reaffirmed its long-standing precedent governing premises liability cases in Tennessee set forth in Blair v. W. Town Mall, the Administrative Office of the Courts reports in a release. Justice Sarah K. Campbell dissented, arguing that MAA lacked constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition because there was no evidence that a similar issue had occurred previously on the bridge or elsewhere on the property.