Outbuildings Not Included in Lease’s Maintenance Requirement

Facts: An employee of a truck rental company tenant sued the property’s owner for negligence, after the employee injured his back when he stepped into a hole in the floor of a tire “shed” that was on the property the owner leased to the tenant. The owner asserted that it owed no “duty of care” to the tenant’s employee, because the lease’s requirement that the owner maintain the property didn’t apply to outbuildings, like the shed, that were on the property.