Kwaitkowski
Kwaitkowski v. Superior Trading Co.
Opinion
Opinion
Taylor, J.
Ms. Kwaitkowski, a former tenant, appeals from a judgment of dismissal after the trial court sustained without leave to amend the demurrer of the landlords to her fourth amended complaint. She sought damages for personal and pecuniary injuries sustained when she was raped, assaulted and robbed in the dimly lit lobby of a building with a defective front door lock in a high crime area, after the landlords had notice of similar and other crimes committed on another tenant in a common hallway. For the reasons set forth below, we have concluded that the judgment must be reversed.
As the demurrer was sustained, the following allegations of the fourth amended complaint must be taken as true (O’Hara v. Western Seven Trees Corp. (1977) 75 Cal.App.3d 798 [ 142 Cal.Rptr. 487 ]; Stanson v. Brown (1975) 49 Cal.App.3d 812, 814 [ 122 Cal.Rptr. 862 ]).
Ms. Kwaitkowski was a tenant of an apartment building owned, operated, maintained and controlled by the landlords at 120 Ellis Street in San Francisco, a high crime area. On July 7, 1976, Ms. Kwaitkowski was accosted in the building lobby, assaulted, battered, raped and robbed by a nonresident. The common areas of the building were…