Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Ohio

Currently my sister lives in a Apt. in Canton , Ohio. She thought some thing wrong with the furnance , so she bought a carbon monoxide detector just in case.very soon after the detector goes off. the Paramedics were called and responded very quickly. My sister and her son were taken to the hospital. The son was ok. My sister had high blood pressure, a dangerous level. She was realeased late that same day. Instructions to monitor it. She does not have insurance. And also missed some work. Her healtlh is still a concern. The management replaced the furnance. but did not offer any other help, but said they were sorry. Can compensation be given?

the Levels of carbon in the air , was high , they had to wait over 24 hrs to return. thank you . sincerely Deborah Buch


Asked on 3/06/14, 11:44 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Eric Willison Eric Eastman Willison

In Ohio, where personal injury cases are concerned, unless the tenant can show that the landlord knew about the carbon monoxide problem before it hurt your sister, then the landlord is not going to be held liable for the damages. The case on this is Shroades V. Rental Homes from the Ohio Supreme Court.

However, if you can find a previous tenant of that apartment who sent a letter to the landlord complaining of that problem, or if a furnace guy in the past ever examined the furnace and told the landlord it would need to be replaced because it was starting to put carbon monoxide in the air, etc., then that would likely be enough to put the landlord on notice that there was a problem and that would make him liable for the personal injury.

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Answered on 3/08/14, 11:20 am


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