Justia Landlord - Tenant Opinion Summaries

The plaintiff, a tenant at an apartment complex operated by a public housing authority, alleged that she was raped by a maintenance worker employed by the complex. According to her account, the worker initially contacted her in the course of his employment to respond to a maintenance request but subsequently began to harass her through calls, texts, and inappropriate conduct. The alleged sexual assault occurred when the worker entered her unlocked apartment without using his employer-issued master key, at a time when he was not scheduled to perform work in her unit.The United States District Court for the District of Colorado granted summary judgment in favor of the landlord and the maintenance worker on the plaintiff’s federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) claims. The district court found that the landlord was not directly liable because it had no notice of the employee’s conduct prior to the alleged assault and could not have taken action before the worker had already quit. The court also concluded that there was no vicarious liability because the worker was not acting within the scope of his employment and the plaintiff failed to establish a sufficient nexus between the worker’s employment and the assault under the aided-by-agency exception. The court sua sponte granted summary judgment in favor of the worker on the FHA claims and declined supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state law claim.The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed. It held that while the FHA incorporates common law agency principles, the aided-by-agency exception is narrowly construed and applies only when an employee exercises significant authority over the victim or uses a special privilege of employment to commit the tort. Here, there was no evidence the worker used such authority or privilege—he did not use his master key or any special access. The court further affirmed the grant of summary judgment to the worker and the district court’s refusal to retain supplemental jurisdiction. View "Trujillo v. Amity Plaza" on Justia Law