Berry Property Management, Inc. v. Bliskey
850 S.W.2d 644, 1993 WL 47309 (1993)
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Rule of Law:
A property management company has a duty to exercise reasonable care in safeguarding residents' keys and personal information, and can be held liable for the foreseeable criminal acts of a third party if its negligence creates an unreasonable risk of harm.
Facts:
- Juli Bliskey was a resident at Wilderock Townhomes, which was managed by Berry Property Management, Inc.
- Berry Property Management's policy required it to keep a key to every tenant's exterior door.
- In the management office, all resident keys were kept on a pegboard, clearly labeled with their corresponding townhome numbers.
- An unlocked file cabinet containing residents' lease information, which identified Bliskey as a single woman living alone, was kept next to the key pegboard.
- The management office itself had no secondary locks, alarms, or other security devices.
- An intruder broke into the management office, looked through the resident files to identify Bliskey as a target, and took her labeled key from the pegboard.
- The intruder then used the key to enter Bliskey's townhome while she was asleep and sexually assaulted her.
Procedural Posture:
- Juli Bliskey sued Berry Property Management, Inc., and others in a Texas trial court for negligence and deceptive trade practices.
- The other defendants settled and were dismissed from the lawsuit.
- The case against Berry Property Management proceeded to a jury trial.
- The jury found for Bliskey on both theories and awarded compensatory and punitive damages.
- The trial court entered a judgment based on the verdict.
- Berry Property Management filed a motion for a new trial, which was overruled, and then appealed to the Court of Appeals of Texas. Bliskey also filed a cross-appeal.
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Issue:
Does a property management company owe a duty of reasonable care to a resident to protect them from the foreseeable criminal acts of a third party when the company's own negligence in handling resident keys and information creates the risk of such a crime?
Opinions:
Majority - Seerden, Justice.
Yes. A property management company that requires possession of its residents' keys owes a duty of ordinary reasonable care in maintaining those keys and related information. The criminal act of a third party is not a superseding cause that relieves the negligent party from liability if the criminal conduct was a foreseeable result of the negligence. In this case, storing clearly identified keys next to unlocked files containing tenants' personal information in an unsecured office created an unreasonable and foreseeable risk that a criminal could gain access and harm a resident. The company's manager admitted that crimes like this were foreseeable in the apartment business, and an expert testified that the security for the keys was 'unconscionable.' Therefore, the company's negligence was a proximate cause of Bliskey's injuries.
Analysis:
This case establishes that a landlord or property manager's duty to protect tenants extends beyond physical premises security to encompass administrative practices. The decision clarifies that creating a condition that makes a third-party crime highly foreseeable—such as negligently handling keys and sensitive tenant data—can establish proximate cause, overcoming the superseding cause defense. This precedent broadens the scope of liability for property managers, holding them accountable for negligence that directly facilitates criminal acts against their residents, even if they have no prior history of similar crimes on the premises.
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