Premises Liability in Illinois

What Is an Action for Premises Liability?

Background

“Premises liability imposes liability on a landowner for an injury resulting from an unreasonably dangerous condition on their land.” (See Lewis E. v. Spagnolo (1999) 186 Ill. 2d 198, 233-34.)

“An entity that owns, maintains, or controls premises is liable for conditions on the land if it knows of, or in the exercise of reasonable care would discover, the condition and should realize that it involves an unreasonable risk of harm to those on the land, should expect that such persons will not discover or realize the danger, and fails to exercise reasonable care to protect those lawfully on the land.” (See Schepley v. Condos. of Logan Square (2015) Ill. App. 2d 141214, 4.)

“Thus, a landowner has a duty to exercise reasonable care to discover defects or dangerous conditions existing on the premises and to either correct them or give sufficient warning to those lawfully on the land to enable them to avoid the danger.” (See id.)

General Information for Complaints and Motions

“The owner or occupier of land owes to invitees present on that property the duty of exercising ordinary and reasonable care to see that the premises are reasonably safe.” (See Mock v. Sears Roebuck & Co. (1981) 101 Ill. App. 3d 103, 105.)

“An owner or occupier of land violates his duty to an invitee when he negligently allows conditions to exist on the property which imperil the safety of persons on that property.” (See id.)

“On the other hand, with respect to a volunteer, owners or occupiers have a duty only to refrain from gross negligence, willfulness or wantonness.” (See id.)

“Therefore, the designation of plaintiff as an invitee or as a volunteer will determine the nature of the duty which defendant owed to plaintiff.” (See id.)

"It is not necessary for the plaintiff to show that the owner had actual knowledge of the dangerous condition." (See Schepley v. Condos. of Logan Square (2015) Ill. App. 2d 141214, 5.)

“If, in the exercise of ordinary care, the owner could have discovered the condition, i.e., if he had constructive notice of it, he may be held liable.” (See id.)

“Constructive notice can be shown only where the dangerous condition is shown to exist for a sufficient length of time to impute knowledge of its existence to the defendants.” (See id.)

Standard of Review and Burdens of Proof

“The standard for review on a trial court's granting of summary judgment is de novo.” (See American Standard Insurance Co. v. Gnojewski (2001) 319 Ill. App. 3d 970, 975.)

“The reviewing court must examine the affidavits, pleadings, admissions, and depositions on file, and it should construe the evidence against the moving party.” (See id.)

“A summary judgment is appropriate if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” (See id.)

The Court’s Decisions

It is well settled that “generally, an invitee is someone who enters the premises of another, either at the express or implied invitation of the latter, for a purpose connected with the latter's business or for some purpose serving a mutually beneficial interest.” (See Mock v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. (1981) 101 Ill. App. 3d 103, 105-06.)

It is also well settled that “Section 344 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts discusses the specific duty that may arise for landowners when they hold their business or premises open to the public to protect invitees from harmful acts of third persons.” (See Pearson v. Pilot Travel Ctrs. (2020) 444 Ill. Dec. 727, 740.)

Documents for Premises Liability in Illinois

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Tauheedah Chaney -vs- Lewis Sutton document preview

Action Complaint Filed (Jury Demand) - Party: Plaintiff Chaney, Tauheedah

16 pages

12-Person(A,B,C,D,E,F,H,R,X,Z) Law Division Motion Section Initial Case Management Dates for CALENDARS Jury will be heard In Person. All otherCivil ActionInitial Law Division Cover Sheet Case - Case Initiation Management Dates will be heard via Zoom (12/01/20) CCL 0520 For more informati…