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Wadkins v. Smallwood

Evidence that the landlords failed to maintain a battery-operated smoke detector in their tenant's apartment was not admissible in the suit involving the death of a 3-year-old when the apartment caught fire.

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Katina Wadkins claimed the owners of a duplex apartment, Michael and Josie Smallwood, were responsible for her injuries and her child’s death in a fire because they failed to maintain and inspect the “hard-wired” smoke detector in the apartment and failed to install an additional battery-operated smoke detector. Her claims were tried before a jury, which found for the Smallwoods. Wadkins appeals from the judgment entered upon the jury’s verdict. For reasons which follow, we affirm.

The evidence showed that in 1988 the Smallwoods agreed to offer their duplex to low-income families in conjunction with the federal Section VIII housing program. In exchange for leaving the duplex in the federal program for at least 10 years, the Smallwoods obtained federal aid to renovate the two apartments in the duplex. The Columbus Housing Authority hired a contractor to renovate the apartments, which included the installation of a hard-wired smoke detector hooked into the apartments’ electrical system. The deal included a continuing arrangement whereby the Housing Authority would periodically inspect the apartments, and the Smallwoods agreed to make any repairs the Housing Authority deemed necessary. No evidence suggested the Smallwoods ever failed to make any repairs requested by the Housing Authority.

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