A New Jersey family is suing their landlord (to be allowed to break their lease), claiming the house they rented is haunted. What intrigues me about this is how they expect to prove their case without finding some friendly ghost willing to testify.
Of course if this were a television courtroom show, where the rule of law takes a back seat to dramatic effect, their attorney would convince the judge to hold closing arguments in a cemetery at midnight, and then tell the jurors if they’re scared to be here, then they can’t rule out the possibility that there are ghosts in the plaintiffs’ house.
© 2012 by Bill Bickel unless otherwise noted.
There is a famous case that is commonly used in legal textbooks, although it concerns a contract for sale of a house rather than a contract for lease of an apartment. In that case, the previous owners had previously advertised the house as haunted, and it had been included in a tour of haunted properties, and one of the complaints was unannounced (corporeal) visitors at all hours hoping to be admitted. Because the previous owners had publicly claimed the house was haunted, but neglected to inform the buyers of this claim, the sale was permitted to be rescinded.
I imagine that there will be some discovery (did the landlords previously receive complaints that the property is haunted? Did they disclose this fact to the plaintiffs?) followed by a settlement offer, in part depending on how long the property sits idle, which, in today’s housing market, could be a while.
There was a similar case in Norway recently. Some twit bought a house but refused to pay when he heard rumors of ghosts. The court did not find this to be a reason to complain:
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=no&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huseierne.no%2Fhus-bolig%2Ftema%2Fjuss%2Fsalg-av-bolig%2Fspokelser-finnes-ikke%2F&act=url
If there are three people in that apartment, the landlord should raise the rent.
The articles says: “In 1976, George and Kathy Lutz stirred up similar skepticism over their motives when they claimed that supernatural forces drove them from their new home in Amityville, N.Y., after 28 days.
A book about their experiences entitled, The Amityville Horror, was later turned into a 1979 movie starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder.”
It neglects to mention that the Lutzes admitted soon afterwards that they made it all up.
Its the next reality TV show – Jersey Shore merged with Ghost Hunters!