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Pittway Corporation, et al. and The Ryland Group v. Stephon Collins, et al. No. 128, September Term, 2007. NEGLIGENCE - PROXIMATE CAUSE - SUPERSEDING CAUSATION A tortfeasor is not liable for plaintiffs' injuries when the injuries were not a foreseeable result of the tortfeasor's actions or omissions, or when intervening negligent acts rise to the level of a superseding cause of plaintiffs' injuries. Sections 442 and 447 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts set forth the test for determining superseding causation. A superseding cause arises primarily when "unusual" and "extraordinary" independent intervening negligent acts occur that could not have been anticipated by the original tortfeasor. MOTION TO DISMISS - PROXIMATE CAUSE While foreseeability is ordinarily a question of fact, to be decided by the trier of fact, proximate cause may only be decided as a matter of law on a motion to dismiss if the facts alleged in the complaint are susceptible of but one inference that gravitates so close to the polar extreme that the issue of causation is rendered as a matter of law. The facts alleged in the complaint at issue admitted of more than one inference, and therefore a motion to dismiss should not have been granted.

In the Circuit Court for Montgomery County Case No. 200122

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 128 September Term, 2007

Pittway Corporation, et al., and The Ryland Group, Inc. v. Stephon Collins, et al.

Bell, C.J. Harrell Battaglia Greene Eldridge, John C. (Retired, specially assigned) Raker, Irma S. (Retired, specially assigned) Cathell, Dale R. (Retired, specially assigned) JJ.

Opinion by Raker, J.

Filed: June 12, 2009

This tragic and sad case arose out of a house fire on June 14, 1998, at the residence of Michael Chapman and his wife, Carolyn Hill, located at 23 Grantchester Place, Gaithersburg, Maryland, a residence they rented from Mr. and Mrs. Gui-Fu Li. Samuel Juster and Stephon Collins, Jr., overnight guests of the Chapmans, died in the fire. Three Chapman children were seriously injured in the fire. The fire was caused by a burning candle in the basement, where the children were sleeping. The children lit the candle during an area-wide electrical outage caused by thunderstorms. The AC powered smoke detector, which did not have a back up battery system, was not activated by the smoke or fire. The plaintiffs, Michael Chapman1 and Carolyn Hill, along with Keith and Brandon Chapman, Dagmar and Stephon Collins, Sr., parents and personal representatives of the estate of Stephon Collins, Jr., and Daniel and Patricia Juster, parents and personal representatives of the estate of Samuel Juster filed suit in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland.2 Plaintiffs filed suit against Gui-Fu Li and Chung Ling Li, the landlords
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Michael Chapman and his son, Keith, were both plaintiffs and defendants in this Three separate complaints, which were later consolidated, were filed initially: Case No. 200122: The parents of Samuel Juster and Stephon Collins, Sr., the divorced father of Stephon Collins, Jr., filed suit for wrongful death and survival action as personal representatives of the decedent's estates against various defendants. Case No. 200628: Dagmar Collins, the divorced mother of Stephon Collins, Jr., filed her own wrongful death cases against various defendants. Case No. 202099: Michael Chapman and Carolyn Hill filed a (continued...)

action.
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of the dwelling, Pittway Corporation, First Alert, Inc, Sunbeam Corporation, BRK Brands, Inc. and Honeywell International, Inc., the manufacturers of the smoke detectors in the home,3 the Ryland Group, Inc., the builder of the home, Summit Electric Co., the electrical subcontractor who procured the smoke detectors and installed them for Ryland, the City of Gaithersburg and the city rental inspector, Victor Greenblatt.4 Plaintiffs also filed suit against David Dieffenbach and his employee Kevin Hightower, renovators of the basement in 1994, for failing to replace the smoke detectors with dual-power smoke detectors and for failing to warn the owners and occupants that the enclosed rooms in the basement could not be used for sleeping.

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(...continued) personal injury action against various defendants arising out of the same June 14, 1998 fire.

Numerous complaints have been filed over the history of this litigation. For ease of reference, we shall refer to the "Re-filed Omnibus Amended Complaint," filed on October 21, 2004, as "the Complaint." Pittway is the parent company of BRK Electronics, which designed, manufactured, distributed, sold, and warranted the smoke detectors used by Ryland in the construction of the house at issue. Other companies, as successors in interest, were also named in the Complaint including First Alert, Inc., Sunbeam Corporation, and Honeywell International, Inc. Sunbeam Corporation was dismissed due to its discharge in bankruptcy and is therefore no longer a party in this matter on appeal or otherwise. The Court of Special Appeals referred to the remaining parties collectively as the "manufacturer defendants," which we will do throughout this opinion. The Circuit Court granted the City of Gaithersburg's Motion for Summary Judgment and the inspector's motion on the grounds that no private cause of action exists against a municipality when it fails to enforce its safety regulations.
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The question presented before this Court is whether intervening negligent acts superseded, as a matter of law, petitioners Pittway and Ryland's negligence in causing the fire that resulted in death and injury. The procedural history of this case is long and complicated. In January 2002, the Circuit Court granted summary judgment in favor of Dieffenbach and Hightower.5 The court also granted Ryland's Motion to Dismiss and Summit's Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative, a Motion for Summary Judgment. Following the dismissal of Ryland and Summit, the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed all claims against the remaining defendants and then filed an appeal against Ryland and Summit to the Court of Special Appeals. The intermediate appellate court vacated the order consenting to voluntary dismissal, dismissed the appeal as premature, and remanded the case to the Circuit Court for further proceedings. Collins v. Li, 158 Md. App. 252, 256, 857 A.2d 135, 137 (2004).6 Plaintiffs then filed an amended complaint. Prior to a hearing in Circuit Court in February 2005 on a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs' Complaint, the Justers and Collinses settled their claims against the Lis and the Chapmans. At the hearing, the Circuit Court granted Ryland's motion to dismiss on the grounds that the events that transpired between Ryland's actions and the fire constituted The Circuit Court granted Dieffenbach and Hightower's motion on the grounds that Dieffenbach and Hightower owed no legally cognizable duty to the plaintiffs and that Dieffenbach and Hightower's failure to obtain building permits was not a cause-in-fact or legal cause of the fire and resulting injuries. The Court of Special Appeals' mandate is somewhat inconsistent in that the court purported to dismiss the entire appeal as premature but nonetheless went ahead, considered the parties' voluntary dismissal in dicta, and then acted upon the trial court's judgment of voluntary dismissal by ordering the parties' voluntary dismissal vacated.
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unforeseeable intervening acts amounting to a superseding cause of the ultimate injuries. In June 2005, the Circuit Court granted the manufacturer defendants' motion to dismiss on the grounds that the numerous acts of the Lis and the Chapmans amounted to a superseding cause of the injuries alleged, thereby relieving them of liability. In April 2006, the Circuit Court granted the Lis' motion to dismiss on the grounds that the negligent acts of the Chapmans constituted superseding causes of the deadly fire. The Court of Special Appeals held that the Circuit Court erred in dismissing the Complaint against the homebuilders and manufacturers of the smoke detector for failure to state a cause of action. Collins v. Li, 176 Md. App. 502, 933 A.2d 528 (2007). The intermediate appellate court concluded that the Circuit Court erred in determining whether the intervening acts of negligence constituted a superseding cause, relieving the manufacturer defendants, Summit Electric, Ryland Homes and Gui-Fu Li and Chung Ling Li of liability for the plaintiffs' deaths and injuries. The court affirmed the trial court's grant of Dieffenbach and Hightower's motions for summary judgment and held that the plaintiffs failed to establish that those defendants had a legally cognizable duty to the Collins, Juster and Chapman children. We shall affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals. This Court granted Ryland7 and Pittway's petition for writ of certiorari, the only
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Ryland, in its petition for writ of certiorari, stated the question presented as follows: "Did the Court of Special Appeals err in concluding that, on the basis of allegations in the Complaint, Ryland could have reasonably foreseen the many intervening acts of negligence and illegality that occurred between the sale of the house and the (continued...)
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defendants to petition this Court, to consider the following questions: "(1) Does the opinion of the Court of Special Appeals improperly change the Maryland law of superseding cause in ways that conflict with well-settled principles long applied by this Court? (2) Does the opinion of the Court of Special Appeals improperly prevent trial courts from deciding the issue of superseding causation on a motion to dismiss?" Pittway v. Collins, 403 Md. 304, 941 A.2d 1104 (2008).

I. The Factual Background The Court of Special Appeals set out the background facts succinctly. We quote from the opinion: "Gui-Fu Li and Chung Ling Li purchased residential property located at 23 Grantchester Place in Gaithersburg, Maryland from the Ryland Group in 1989. Appellee Ryland Group was the builder of Grantchester Place and Summit was the electrical subcontractor. When the home was built in 1989, appellees Ryland and Summit installed an AC-power smoke detector that was hard wired into the home's electrical system, but that did not have a safety battery back-up on each level of the home. Gui-Fu Li, a chiropractor, renovated the basement for a medical office; these renovations, however, were performed without a building permit. When Dr. Li began to treat his acupuncture
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(...continued) date of the fire? Did the Court of Special Appeals, therefore, incorrectly reverse the circuit court's dismissal of the Complaint against Ryland for failure to state a claim on the ground that, as a matter of law, Ryland did not proximately cause plaintiffs' injuries?"

We shall address the issues as framed by Pittway.
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patients in the finished basement, neighbors complained to the City of Gaithersburg about his home medical office and he was cited for a zoning violation on June 6, 1989. After the Lis were denied permission for a zoning variance for a home medical office, they relocated their residence and, thereafter, sought to rent Grantchester Place. Michael Chapman and the Lis signed a rental agreement on August 13, 1991 and the Lis applied for and obtained a Rental License from the City of Gaithersburg on August 29, 1991. The enclosed basement rooms had been used as bedrooms by the Chapman children and the sleep-over guests of their children since 1994. Mr. Chapman lived in the home with his wife, Catherine Chapman, and their children, including his three boys from his prior marriage, Keith, Brandon and Kyle Chapman. Grantchester Place had a finished basement, which had three enclosed rooms: (a) Brandon and Kyle Chapman's bedroom, (b) Keith Chapman's bedroom, and (c) Mr. Chapman's computer room/office. The two basement bedrooms did not have any windows. In early 1994, a water pipe burst in Grantchester Place, causing extensive damage, especially to the basement, where a foot of water had accumulated. On February 2, 1994, appellee, David E. Dieffenbach, trading as DEDHICO Home Improvements, submitted a written proposal to the Lis and Mr. Chapman to repair the water damage for a total of $28,060. The contract itself indicates that `[t]he existing metal stud framing will be replaced and repaired to facilitate replacement of the walls.' Dieffenbach did not apply for and thus never obtained a building permit. Dieffenbach subsequently submitted two invoices for extra work, which both showed that twenty electrical outlets in the basement were cleaned and re-wired by an electrician at $17.50 per outlet for a total cost of $350. Kevin Hightower, who is a journeyman electrician and an employee of Dieffenbach, performed the electrical re-wiring work. Hightower admitted that he installed two or three new electrical
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outlets in the basement. Neither Dieffenbach nor Hightower obtained a permit for the electrical work performed from the City of Gaithersburg and they conceded that they were required by law to apply for an electrical permit. As a result of appellees' failure to apply for a building and/or electrical permit, the City of Gaithersburg did not inspect the work performed by appellees Dieffenbach and Hightower. Neither the Lis, Deiffenbach or Hightower undertook to upgrade the basement's AC-power smoke detector to dual-power smoke detector in conjunction with the renovation project or to recommend an upgrade or to warn the owners or occupants of the limitations of the AC-power smoke detector. On Saturday, June 13, 1998, thirteen-year-old, Stephon Collins, Jr. and twelve-year-old Samuel Juster were overnight guests of Keith, Brandon and twelve-year-old Kyle, the three sons of Michael Chapman and Carolyn Hill Chapman, at Grantchester Place. That evening, powerful thunderstorms caused an area-wide electrical power outage. In order to provide lighting in order that Brandon, Kyle and Keith, and their friends, Samuel and Stephon could continue playing their game of Monopoly, they lit approximately six candles in the basement bedroom where Kyle and Brandon slept. Keith Chapman, then seventeen years old, was the last of the boys to retire. He extinguished all but one of the candles at approximately 4:30 a.m. and removed the one remaining lit candle from Kyle's and Brandon's bedroom, leaving it on a triangular corner unit in the basement's main recreational room. Keith Chapman estimated that he went to bed at approximately 4:45 a.m. Some time around 5:00 a.m., Sunday, June 14, 1998, the candle that was left burning on the triangular corner unit in the basement's main recreational room ignited a fire. Both the Fire Investigation Report of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire Arms and the Event Report of the Montgomery County Police Department concluded that the fire was ignited by the candle left on the triangular corner unit. As noted, the smoke detector located in the basement did not trigger an alarm due to the lack
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of a back-up power source. Stephon Collins, Jr. and Samuel Juster perished as a result of the fire; Kyle Chapman suffered severe burns requiring the amputation of both legs and the minor Chapman children suffered burns and injuries to their respiratory systems." Collins, 176 Md. App. at 518-20, 933 A.2d at 537-38.

II. Trial Court Proceedings A. The Complaint The Complaint filed in the Circuit Court contained twenty-six counts, each alleging acts of omissions in relation to the smoke detectors and lack of emergency egress from the basement at the Grantchester Place residence. The plaintiffs alleged that all of the defendants, by either acts or omissions, were responsible for the lack of adequate warning to the children of the fire, which plaintiffs alleged, resulted from the lack of a battery backup in the smoke detector, or other alternative safety power source in the event of an electrical outage. The theory against the Lis was that the deaths and injuries were proximately caused by their acts and omissions resulting in the illegal use of the basement as bedrooms. The Complaint states that had the Lis not performed the unauthorized renovation of the basement for use as a medical office, it "would have remained an empty concrete shell without even electrical outlets [under which] inhospitable conditions, the children would not have used the Chapman's basement as a sleeping area on June 14, 1998 . . . ." The Complaint also alleged that had the Lis "warned their tenants, plaintiffs' children would not have been sleeping in the enclosed basement bedrooms . . . ."
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Plaintiffs' theory against the manufacturer defendants, as set out in the Complaint, alleged negligence, strict liability/design defect and failure to warn of the limitations of the AC-powered only smoke detector, breach of implied warranty, and breach of express warranty, all stemming from the lack of a battery back-up smoke detector system. Plaintiffs alleged that, as a direct and proximate result of the failure to equip the detector at issue with a battery back-up or other alternative safety power source, the fire and smoke could not be detected, and thus no alert sounded to the children who did not have a reasonable opportunity to and could not escape the burning residence. The Court of Special Appeals provided the following chart outlining the claims against the manufacturer defendants: CAUSE OF ACTION

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