Court Opinion

ID: 9464670
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:39:50.633497+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:45.511299
License: Public Domain

FAIRCHILD, Chief Judge,
dissenting.
The crucial question involved in this case is whether, under Illinois law, and accepting the averments of the complaint as true, defendant owed plaintiff any duty which was breached. I have no quarrel with the general proposition adopted by the majority that no duty is owed to protect against criminal acts of third persons on a public street. However, I do not believe this proposition fits the facts of this case. Plaintiff alleged that defendant ordered him to remain in his truck and park it on a street when defendant knew or should have known that plaintiff would be in danger of criminal attack. Plaintiff followed defendant’s instructions and was subsequently shot in the face. In my view, this affirmative conduct of defendant greatly increased the risk of harm to plaintiff, thus creating a duty on defendant to warn plaintiff of the danger or to direct plaintiff to a place of safety until the delivery could be made.
The principle that affirmative conduct by an actor can create a duty to exercise reasonable care is recognized in the Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 302B, Comment e, which provides in relevant part:
There are, however, situations in which the actor, as a reasonable man, is required to anticipate and guard against the intentional, or even criminal, misconduct of others. In general, these situations arise where the actor is under a special responsibility toward the one who suffers the harm, which includes the duty to protect him against such intentional misconduct; or where the actor’s own affirmative act has created or exposed the other to a recognizable high degree of risk of harm through such misconduct, which a reasonable man would take into account. (Emphasis added.)
I conclude that Illinois courts would follow the position of the Restatement and find a duty owed by defendant to plaintiff under the facts of this case.