## Facts

- Linda M. Crawford rented a second-floor apartment from Tobe McKenzie and McKenzie Development Corp. under the landlords’ standard form residential lease.
- The lease contained a broad exculpatory/hold-harmless clause purporting to relieve the landlord from liability for personal injury or property loss “for any cause” and requiring the tenant to indemnify the landlord for related claims.
- A fire began in the apartment of downstairs tenants Debra Gail Buckner and Larry Eugene Buckner and spread to Crawford’s unit, blocking her only door exit.
- Crawford escaped by jumping from a second-story window and suffered multiple injuries, allegedly worsened by debris and conditions behind the building.
- Crawford sued in tort, alleging landlord negligence in failing to maintain a fire alarm, failing to maintain the rear premises, and allowing the downstairs tenants to remain despite repeated complaints and altercations.
- Crawford also raised issues relating to the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA), which prohibits lease terms limiting landlord liability but did not apply in the county where the property was located at the time.

## Issues

1. Whether a broad exculpatory clause in a residential lease is enforceable to bar a tenant’s personal-injury negligence claim against the landlord.
2. Whether public-policy considerations, including those reflected in the URLTA, render such residential exculpatory clauses void even where the statute does not apply.

## Decision

- The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and set aside summary judgment for the landlords.
- The court held the lease’s exculpatory clause void as against public policy and therefore unenforceable to bar Crawford’s negligence claims.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings on the merits of the tenant’s tort claims.

## Legal Principles

- Contract provisions that contravene public policy are unenforceable, including provisions that attempt to immunize a party from liability for its own negligence in circumstances affecting personal safety.
- Broad exculpatory clauses in residential leases that purport to relieve landlords from liability for negligence causing tenant personal injury are void as against public policy.
- Legislative policy disfavoring residential landlord exculpation (as reflected in the URLTA) may inform common-law public policy analysis, even when the statute is not directly applicable in the county at the relevant time.
- Prior decisions enforcing exculpatory clauses in commercial or nonresidential contexts do not control when the clause arises in a residential lease and is used to bar personal-injury claims.

## Conclusion

The court held that a sweeping exculpatory clause in a residential lease cannot bar a tenant’s personal-injury negligence action against the landlord because such clauses are void as against public policy, and it reversed summary judgment and remanded for further proceedings.


Crawford v. Buckner, 839 S.W.2d 754 (Tenn. 1992)