CORNELIA WRIGHT VS. PREMIER BUSINESS MANAGEMENT(L-6000-13, HUDSON COUNTY AND STATEWIDE), A-3002-15T3

Background

Plaintiff Cornelia Wright lived on the 4th floor of an apartment building owned by Premier Business Management; Superstorm Sandy caused a multi-day power outage in late October 2012.
The building's stairwells normally used electric lighting; emergency lamps ran on six-volt batteries that were recharged by the building power and lasted about six hours once power was lost.
On October 31, 2012, in a dark stairwell illuminated only by a small handheld flashlight, Wright misjudged the last steps, fell, and suffered a trimalleolar fracture of her right ankle.
Wright sued for negligence, alleging the injury resulted from defendant’s failure to comply with State and local building codes governing emergency lighting; her interrogatory responses identified only code noncompliance as the basis for negligence.
Defendant moved for summary judgment, arguing (1) the outage was an act of God and (2) Wright offered no expert proof that the emergency lighting violated codes; the trial court granted summary judgment.
On appeal the Appellate Division affirmed, holding Wright needed expert testimony to establish code-based standards and that res ipsa loquitur did not apply.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether defendant breached a duty by failing to comply with State/local codes for emergency lighting	Wright contends code violations caused the dangerous, dark stairwell and the fall	Premier argues the outage was an act of God and Wright produced no expert to show code noncompliance or breach	Court: Wright needed expert testimony to identify the applicable code standard and any breach; summary judgment proper
Whether expert testimony was required to prove the standard of care	Wright relied on code references and argued jurors could infer negligence without an expert	Premier argued code complexity requires expert proof to define the standard and deviation	Court: Codes here are the benchmark and are beyond common juror knowledge; expert required
Whether res ipsa loquitur permits an inference of negligence	Wright argued the accident speaks for itself and permits a negligence inference	Premier argued the outage and battery charging are not within its exclusive control and technical code issues preclude res ipsa	Court: Res ipsa inapplicable—probabilities do not favor negligence without expert proof; exclusive control and plaintiff’s own mistaken step also defeat res ipsa
Whether the power outage was an act of God insulating defendant from liability	Wright did not produce evidence showing defendant caused or could have prevented the outage or battery discharge	Premier asserted the outage from Superstorm Sandy was beyond its control and batteries ceased recharging due to the outage	Court: The outage was an act of God; fact supports conclusion that defendant was not negligent in causing the outage or battery failure

Key Cases Cited

Brill v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 142 N.J. 520 (explaining summary judgment standards and view of facts in favor of nonmoving party)
Davis v. Brickman Landscaping, 219 N.J. 395 (establishing when expert testimony is required to define standards embodied in codes)
Sanzari v. Rosenfeld, 34 N.J. 128 (jury can supply standard of care from common knowledge when appropriate)
Jerista v. Murray, 185 N.J. 175 (res ipsa requires probabilities favoring negligence; expert testimony needed when inference is outside common knowledge)
Szalontai v. Yazbo's Sports Cafe, 183 N.J. 386 (elements of res ipsa loquitur and limitations on its application)
Brown v. Racquet Club of Bricktown, 95 N.J. 280 (res ipsa standards and requirement to show negligence more probable than not)
Giantonnio v. Taccard, 291 N.J. Super. 31 (lay juror common knowledge can obviate expert in some negligence cases)
Buckelew v. Grossbard, 87 N.J. 512 (expert testimony required in medical-technical contexts to permit res ipsa or establish standard of care)