214 Wis. 1 | Wis. | 1934
The plaintiff claims that the trial court erred in changing the findings of the jury as to the defendant owners’ failure of duty and that she is entitled upon the verdict to judgment against the owners for the damages assessed by the jury. She also claims that she is entitled to judgment against the owners upon common-law principles upon the jury’s findings.
The learned trial judge was . . . “of opinion that any failure of duty to make the premises safe related to a detail concerning the use and occupation of the premises by the tenant Sakos, which under the terms of the lease and under the law was a duty on the part of the tenant and not a duty on the part of the landlord or the landlord’s agent, and that there is no evidence to support the answers” ... to the questions as to the owners Luebkeman.
It is conceded that a restaurant is a public building within the provisions of the safe-place statute, and that every owner
That the owner is not responsible under the safe-place statute for failure to maintain the light at the stairhead is impliedly held in Freimann v. Cumming, 185 Wis. 88, 91, 200 N. W. 662, where it is said:
“Considering the language and general purpose of this (safe-place) statute, we now hold that in order to place such a liability (of safe maintenance) as is here claimed against one as the owner of such premises there must exist in such person the right to present possession or present control or dominion thereover so that such person may lawfully exercise the rights necessary to permit him to properly enter upon the premises in order to perform such an ever-present duty as is fixed by this statute.”
The owners in the instant case had no such possession of the premises, and no such ever-present right of control or dominion thereover as to render them responsible for either constant maintenance of the light or for turning on the light whenever the stair was in use.
By the Court. — The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.