In an April 10, 2014, decision that expressly overruled its own
15-year old precedent, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has
held that the owner of a building used as a place for a large
number of people to gather will be strictly liable for an injury
resulting from any building code violation. The case is Sheehan
v. Weaver, No. SJC-11395. Prior to Sheehan, the Court
had held that the relevant statute, G. L. c. 143, Section 51,
provided for strict liability only with respect to violations of
the building code pertaining to fire safety.
In Sheehan, the plaintiff lived alone in a third-floor
apartment of a three-story mixed-use business-residential
structure. The first floor contained a chiropractor's office,
while there were two apartments on the second floor and one
apartment on the third floor. The apartment tenants used different
entrances than did the patients of the chiropractor. While Sheehan
was ascending the exterior staircase leading to an outer door
