Rush v. Commercial Realty Co. case brief

Rush v. Commercial Realty Co. case brief
1929 New Jersey Supreme

Facts: Plaintiffs are tenants of defendants. Defendants controlled the house where they lived and also the adjoining house and provided a detached bathroom for both houses. Mrs. Rush went to the bathroom and fell through the floor through some sort of a trap door and fell about 9 feet into some sort of pit and had to be removed by ladder. 

Decision: Affirmed for plaintiff. Defendants motions denied in lower court and here. 

Reasoning: Think that plaintiff could not have assumed the risk of using a bathroom which was to use an essential service. It also could not be contributory negligence by stepping on the floor because the floor was in bad repair. It was a jury question to see if she knew of conditions and if she contributed to her own injury. 

Holding: A plaintiff cannot assume the risk of using an essential service that is of public necessity and whether she could have known that floor was in bad repair is up to the jury to decide so she can maintain her suit. 

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