## Facts

- Glasgow Realty Company owned a three-story building abutting a public sidewalk; the third floor contained apartments above the public square.
- During a crowded “Sidewalk Sale Day,” a nine-year-old visitor in a third-floor apartment raised (or found raised) a window directly above the sidewalk and yelled to children below.
- A teenage apartment occupant attempted to close the lower sash; the child placed his hands against the glass during the closing.
- The lower-sash glass broke, fell onto an awning, and shattered further; pedestrians on the sidewalk scattered to avoid the falling glass.
- In the ensuing rush, an unknown person knocked pedestrian Vivian L. Metcalfe to the ground, fracturing her hip and causing lacerations and significant, partly permanent disability.
- Evidence supported that the window was defectively maintained (including inadequate putty securing the glass and defective/broken sash cords), contributing to the glass falling when pressure was applied.
- A jury awarded Metcalfe $47,500 for negligence; Glasgow Realty appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether sufficient evidence supported a finding that the building owner breached its duty of ordinary care by failing to inspect and maintain a window over a public sidewalk in reasonably safe condition.
2. Whether the child’s conduct at the window was a superseding cause that, as a matter of law, relieved the owner of liability.
3. Whether Metcalfe’s injury—caused by being knocked down during a crowd reaction rather than direct contact with glass—was within the foreseeable risk created by the defective window.
4. Whether alleged errors in jury instructions, admission of photographs, or claimed juror misconduct required reversal.

## Decision

- The Kentucky Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment for Metcalfe.
- The evidence permitted the jury to find negligent maintenance of a window positioned over a public sidewalk.
- The child’s actions were not a superseding cause; the negligent condition remained an operative legal cause.
- The type of harm was foreseeable even if the precise manner of injury involved a crowd reaction.
- The court found no reversible error in the instructions, admission of photographs, or handling of juror-misconduct allegations.

## Legal Principles

- A building owner must use ordinary care to inspect and maintain structural components over or adjacent to public ways so they are reasonably safe for pedestrians.
- Proximate cause turns on whether the injury is within the scope of foreseeable risk created by the negligent condition; the exact manner or extent of injury need not be foreseen.
- An intervening act does not cut off liability unless it is so extraordinary and unforeseeable that it becomes a superseding cause; ordinary conduct by tenants or children around windows can be foreseeable.
- Directed verdict is improper where, viewing evidence favorably to the plaintiff, reasonable jurors could differ on negligence and causation.

## Conclusion

The court upheld liability for negligent maintenance of a third-floor window over a busy sidewalk, holding that falling glass and resulting crowd panic were foreseeable consequences and that a child’s involvement in the window’s closing did not supersede the owner’s negligence.


Glasgow Realty Co. v. Metcalfe, 482 S.W.2d 750 (Ky. Ct. App. 1972)