Opinion ID: 1179634
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Duty to Protect Business Invitees From the Criminal Acts of Third Persons

Text: Washington courts have attempted to address the duty owed by business owners to their invitees to protect them from harm on the business premises. In the case of physical danger on the business premises, Washington courts have held a business owner owes a duty to invitees to protect them from dangerous conditions on the premises. See, e.g., Degel, 129 Wash.2d at 49, 914 P.2d 728 (the landowner owes to invitees an affirmative duty to use ordinary care to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition); Tincani v. Inland Empire Zoological Soc'y, 124 Wash.2d 121, 139, 875 P.2d 621 (1994) (In limited circumstances, RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS § 343A creates a duty to protect invitees even from known or obvious dangers. This occurs when a possessor `should anticipate the harm despite such knowledge or obviousness.'). [1] While our law of premises liability for physical hazards is well developed, Washington law on the liability of business owners for hazards created by the conduct of people, particularly criminal conduct, is less well established. Although a number of our cases address the duty owed by a business to an invitee with respect to criminal behavior by third persons in particularized, special circumstances, we have never said a general duty exists running from all businesses to all invitees.