Opinion ID: 2215737
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Landowners' Duty to Trespassers

Text: Although the Premises Liability Act abolished the common law distinction between the duties owed by a landowner to an invitee and a licensee, the Act expressly retained the distinction between the duties owed to those lawfully on the premises (invitees and licensees) and those unlawfully on the premises (trespassers). See 740 ILCS 130/3 (West 1994). In general, a landowner owes no duty of care to a trespassing adult except to refrain from willfully and wantonly injuring him. Mt. Zion State Bank & Trust v. Consolidated Communications, Inc., 169 Ill.2d 110, 214 Ill.Dec. 156, 660 N.E.2d 863 (1995); Marcovitz v. Hergenrether, 302 Ill. 162, 167, 134 N.E. 85 (1922); see Skoczylas v. Ballis, 191 Ill.App.3d 1, 4, 138 Ill.Dec. 398, 547 N.E.2d 565 (1989). The rationale for this rule is that in a civilization based on private ownership, it is considered a socially desirable policy to permit a person use of his land in his own way, without the burden of watching for and protecting those who come there without permission or right. Mt. Zion State Bank, 169 Ill.2d at 122, 214 Ill.Dec. 156, 660 N.E.2d 863. A number of exceptions to the general rule limiting the landowner's duty to trespassers have been created, however. See Lee, 152 Ill.2d at 446, 178 Ill.Dec. 699, 605 N.E.2d 493. One such exception imposes upon a landowner or occupier the duty to use ordinary care to avoid injury to a trespasser who has been discovered in a place of danger on the premises. Lee, 152 Ill.2d at 446, 178 Ill.Dec. 699, 605 N.E.2d 493; Briney v. Illinois Central R.R. Co., 401 Ill. 181, 186, 81 N.E.2d 866 (1948). The plaintiff argues that Carl comes within this exception because he was a trespasser discovered on the premises in a place of danger. ICG responds that this exception does not apply here because Carl, though admittedly discovered by ICG, was not discovered in a place of danger on the premises. For the reasons that follow, we reject the application of the place of danger exception to this case. B.