Rush v. Commercial Realty Co. is an example of why I love law school: I just finished having a laughing fit at the Wilde Roast Café.
And yes, I cried.
The case for the plaintiffs was that they were tenants of the defendant, which controlled the house wherein they lived and also the adjoining house, and provided a detached privy (outhouse/toilet) for the use of both houses; that Mrs. Rush having occasion to use this privy, went into it and fell through the floor, or through some sort of trap door therein, descended about nine feet into the accumulation at the bottom, and had to be extricated by use of a ladder.
Now, it turns out that Mrs. Rush didn’t actually fall through the toilet. That’s how I read it the first time – and believe me the visual was pure hilarity. It appears Mrs. Rush fell through the floor of the outhouse, not the actual potty.
And the judge blamed the property owner, because:
In dealing with these, it should be observed that Mrs. Rush had no choice, when impelled by the calls of nature, but to use the facilities placed at her disposal by the landlord, to wit, a privy with a trap door in the floor, poorly maintained.
Mrs. Rush wins. Whether or not the fall was the only accident that happened is unclear.
* Rush v. Commercial Realty Co., 145 A. 476 (N.J. Sup. Ct. 1929)