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Corbin v. Buchanan10/28/1994
does not create private rights, citing My Sister's Place v. City of Burlington, 139 Vt. 602, 433 A.2d 275 (1981). In that case, however, the plaintiff began renovation of a building after a city fire inspector erroneously advised that specific improvements would meet fire code requirements. We affirmed the trial court's ruling that the city was estopped from disclaiming liability, based on its employee's indisputable negligence in erroneously advising a particular member of the public about the fire code and inducing reasonable reliance on that advice. Id. at 609-10, 433 A.2d at 279-80. My Sister's Place falls far short of holding that a general duty to enforce local codes creates a private cause of action.
In the case at bar, the issuance of a certificate of occupancy to the building in which the apartment in question was located neither induced reliance on the part of any tenant that the Town warranted the building to be safe from fire, nor was the inspection of another apartment in the building "affirmative conduct" as to the apartment in which decedent died.
Finally, the rent control agreement between the Town and a building owner did not create a "close relationship" between the Town and plaintiffs. The agreement had to do principally with rent levels, and there is no merit in plaintiffs' contention at trial that, having undertaken affirmative acts, the Town owed a duty to plaintiffs to undertake further reasonable acts, namely to conduct safety inspections of the apartment.
In light of our decision, we need not address the other issues raised by the Town or the issues on the cross-appeal.
Reversed.
FOR THE COURT:
Ernest W. Gibson III
Associate Justice
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