Court Opinion

ID: 9516323
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 23:40:28.459504+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:33:39.099611
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE GOLDENHERSH, dissenting: I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion on two grounds, one procedural and the other a matter of substance. First, I do not agree that when the appellate court issues a certificate of importance “the certification of a particular question or questions *** is neither necessary nor appropriate.” Section 4 of article VI of the constitution of 1970 provides: “Appeals from the Appellate Court to the Supreme Court are a matter of right *** if a divison of the Appellate Court certifies that a case decided by it involves a question of such importance that the case should be decided by the Supreme Court.” In view of the power vested in and the responsibility imposed upon the appellate court by this provision I consider it not only appropriate, but constitutionally mandated, that it specify the question which in its judgment should be reviewed by this court. The certification, of course, neither limits the scope of this court’s review (Schatz v. Abbott Laboratories, Inc., 51 Ill.2d 143) nor requires that we find the question certified to be the controlling issue in the case, but it is of inestimable assistance in our understanding of why the certificate of importance was granted. In reaching its decision on the merits, the majority fits this case into the procrustean bed of the “scope of the duty owed by one in possession of property to an independent contractor and his employees,” and in so doing ignores long-established rules which determine whether the conduct of the parties was negligent or contributorily negligent. The majority, without considering the questions of negligence or contributory negligence, arbitrarily holds that the defendant owed no duty to the plaintiff because the hazardous condition allegedly created by defendant’s negligence was not latent or hidden. A review of the pertinent authorities demonstrates clearly the error of this conclusion. The record shows that the roof over the area where plaintiff was required to work had been damaged by hail approximately 13 months prior to the date on which plaintiff was injured, that when it rained the roof leaked and that the I-beam on which plaintiff was standing at the time he was injured was wet. It may be, as stated by the majority, that “It does not appear *** that the condition of the floor had anything to do with the plaintiff’s injury,” but the same statement is not true of the condition of the I-beam, and it is not disputed that the wet I-beam was the only place provided by either defendant, or plaintiff’s employer, on which plaintiff could stand while he performed his work. Applying the definition of negligence embodied in Illinois Pattern Instructions (10.01) it is obvious that whether the defendant discharged its duty owed plaintiff as an invitee was a question of fact for the jury. The holding of the majority opinion apparently results from the erroneous conclusion that because the hazardous condition was apparent, thus obviating the necessity for warning the plaintiff of its presence, defendant was somehow relieved of the duty to maintain its premises in a safe condition. This is patently wrong. Although the apparency of the hazardous condition was relevant to the questions of whether defendant owed a duty to warn of its presence and whether plaintiff was contributorily negligent, it did not serve to relieve the defendant of the duty to maintain its premises in a safe condition. The majority opinion is tenable only if it can be held that plaintiff’s conduct was contributorily negligent as a matter of law, and to so hold would be violative of rules enunciated in our earlier opinions. This court has held that negligence and contributory negligence are measured against the conduct of a reasonably careful person under circumstances similar to those shown by the evidence. Negligence and contributory negligence are the composite of the experience of the average man (Keating v. Jones Development Co. (5th cir.), 398 F.2d 1011) and should, ordinarily, be left to jury determination. The court has consistently held that the presence of an apparent defective or hazardous condition is a circumstance to be considered in determining whether a plaintiff was contributorily negligent. In Pauckner v. Wakem, 231 Ill. 276, the plaintiff, an employee of the Chicago Tribune Company, was sent to the defendants’ warehouse to obtain certain machinery stored there, and while in the warehouse he fell into an unprotected elevator shaft. The evidence showed that the area adjacent to the elevator shaft was dimly lighted and the entrance to the area was unguarded. In rejecting the defendants’ contention that the trial court should have directed a verdict because plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence the court said: “Appellants’ argument upon this point is, that if the light was sufficient in the passway to enable appellee to see the elevator shaft he should have used his eyes and avoided the danger. If it was too dark for him to see, they say he should not have gone along a dark and unknown passway without a light. We are of the opinion that under the evidence it was a proper question for the jury to determine whether appellee was guilty of contributory negligence.” 231 Ill. 276, 282-3. In Swenson v. City of Rockford, 9 Ill. 2d 122, 127, in rejecting the city’s contention that plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence because she had walked upon a sidewalk in which she had knowledge of defects, the court said: “The use of a defective sidewalk by a person who has knowledge of the defect is not contributory negligence per se, and if, while walking upon that sidewalk, such person is in the exercise of ordinary care for his or her safety, there may be a recovery in case of an injury. (Wallace v. City of Farmington, 231 Ill. 232; City of Mattoon v. Faller, 217 Ill. 273.) Ordinary care has been defined to be that degree of care which is exercised by ordinarily prudent persons under the same or similar circumstances. Austin v. Public Service Co. of Northern Illinois, 299 Ill. 112. In Village of Clayton v. Brooks, 150 Ill. 97, this court said: ‘The law is, we think, well settled, that knowledge of the defect in the sidewalk, by the person injured, before he goes upon the same or before injury, does not per se establish negligence on his part. *** “It is plain that one may exercise due care with full knowledge of the danger to which he is exposed or to which he lawfully exposes himself. This certainly is not contributory negligence.” ’ In the same case (p. 106,) it was said, quoting from Sherman & Redfield on Negligence: ‘The mere fact that a traveler is familiar with the road, and knows of the existence of a defect therein, will not impose upon him the duty to use more than ordinary care in avoiding it. *** Such knowledge is a circumstance, and perhaps a strong one, but it should be submitted, with the other facts of the case, to a jury, for them to determine, whether, with such knowledge, the plaintiff exercised ordinary care in proceeding on a way known to be dangerous, or, in proceeding, used ordinary care to avoid injury.’ ” The record shows that the plaintiff, employed by a contractor engaged by defendant to perform certain work, was instructed by his foreman to do a job which according to the testimony was to be done while standing on the wet I-beam. No scaffolding was provided for the reason that the placement of scaffolding would require the efforts of two men for three or four hours. Whether plaintiff, in going upon the wet I-beam, was guilty of contributory negligence was an issue of fact for the jury and should not by arbitrarily decided by this court on the ground that he knew the I-beam was wet. The fact that it was wet was a circumstance to be considered by the jury in deciding the issue of fact presented by the evidence. The able trial judge, after adequate instruction on the issues, properly submitted the matter to the jury, and to deprive this plaintiff of his recovery on the grounds set forth in the majority opinion is clearly contrary to established principles of law. MR. JUSTICE WARD joins in this dissent.