In Stambovsky vs. Ackley, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York ruled that “as a matter of law, the house is haunted.” Ms. Ackley had failed to fulfill a legal requirement to inform the Stambovkys that the house was known to be haunted.
The ruling goes on to describe the problem that Ms. Ackley had created for the Stambovskys:
From the perspective of a person in the position of plaintiff herein, a very practical problem arises with respect to the discovery of a paranormal phenomenon: “Who you gonna’ call?” as a title song to the movie “Ghostbusters” asks. Applying the strict rule of caveat emptor to a contract involving a house possessed by poltergeists conjures up visions of a psychic or medium routinely accompanying the structural engineer and Terminix man on an inspection of every home subject to a contract of sale. It portends that the prudent attorney will establish an escrow account lest the subject of the transaction come back to haunt him and his client — or pray that his malpractice insurance coverage extends to supernatural disasters. In the interest of avoiding such untenable consequences, the notion that a haunting is a condition which can and should be ascertained upon reasonable inspection of the premises is a hobgoblin which should be exorcised from the body of legal precedent and laid quietly to rest.
via Neatorama
January 8, 2014
