Opinion ID: 2215737
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Duty Under Premises Liability

Text: The plaintiff here charged ICG with liability for Carl's death in its capacity as the owner of the station and warming house. Illinois law imposes a duty upon premises owners and occupiers which varies with regard to the plaintiff's status on the premises. Lee v. Chicago Transit Authority, 152 Ill.2d 432, 446, 178 Ill.Dec. 699, 605 N.E.2d 493 (1992). Entrants upon land are divided into three classifications: invitees, licensees, and trespassers. An invitee is defined as one who enters the premises of another with the owner's or occupier's express or implied consent for the mutual benefit of himself and the owner, or for a purpose connected with the business in which the owner is engaged. Rodriguez v. Norfolk & Western Ry. Co., 228 Ill.App.3d 1024, 1038, 170 Ill.Dec. 708, 593 N.E.2d 597 (1992). A licensee is one who enters upon the premises of another with neither permission nor invitation and intrudes for some purpose of his own, or at his convenience, or merely as an idler. Rodriguez, 228 Ill.App.3d at 1038, 170 Ill.Dec. 708, 593 N.E.2d 597. The duty owed to a licensee differed from that owed to an invitee under common law; however, since the enactment of the Premises Liability Act (740 ILCS 130/1 et seq. (West 1994)) that distinction has been eliminated. Under the Premises Liability Act, the duty owed by a premises owner or occupier to an invitee or a licensee is that of reasonable care under the circumstances regarding the state of the premises or acts done or omitted on them. 740 ILCS 130/2 (West 1994). Our analysis in this case is only concerned, however, with the duty owed by a landowner to a trespasser.