Brennan

This is an action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by a tenant who fell off the back stairs of a house he rented from the owner when the handrail broke. The tenant appeals from a judgment entered on a jury verdict in the landlord’s favor.

Plaintiff appeals on the ground that the court erred in refusing to give BAJI No. 8.00 (Duty of Owner or Occupant of Premises) and also erred by rendering the instruction based on BAJI No. 8.40 (Landlord’s Liability for Accident on Leased Premises). In substance, the refused instruction stated that the owner of premises is under a duty to exercise ordinary care in the management of the premises in order to avoid exposing persons thereon to an unreasonable risk of harm. (BAJI No. 8.00; Civ. Code, § 1714.) Instead, the court instructed that ordinarily the owner of premises leased to a tenant is not liable for any injury to the tenant that results from a dangerous condition which existed when the tenant took possession. (BAJI No. 8.40.)

In November 1968, William M. Brennan (“Plaintiff”) rented a single family residence from Bill D. Cockrell dba Cockrell Investments, Inc. (“Defendant”). The back stairway of the house had…