Court Opinion

ID: 9666072
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:04:10.556176+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:04.299057
License: Public Domain

VOGEL, Justice
(concurring specially).
I concur, but with one reservation.
The majority opinion relies principally on Werth v. Ashley Realty Co., 199 N.W.2d 899 (N.D.1972), in continuing the distinction between “invitees” and “licensees.”
I am concerned that this renewed recognition of the rule stated in Werth might have the effect of perpetuating a doctrine which has long outlived its usefulness and should be abolished. As Werth recognizes, even in 1972 some jurisdictions had abolished the distinction between invitees and licensees and substituted a rule that reasonableness of the conduct of owners and possessors of land under all the circumstances provided the proper test for determining liability. The Werth opinion recognized that the rule distinguishing between invitees and licensees was then under attack, and Werth merely held that the rule would be adhered to in North Dakota for the present and would be reexamined later. See Syllabus ¶ 3.
In 1975, we again forecast a reexamination of the common-law distinction. In Francis v. Pic, 226 N.W.2d 654, 659 (N.D.1975), we said:
“The passage of time has not presented an opportunity to re-examine the common law conception nor have cases been presented which would be suitable for such re-examination. We do not at this time find it appropriate or necessary to further re-examine the common law definitions and rules of law as they may apply to licensees, invitees and trespassers.”
I think it is now time for Werth to self-destruct.
Since Werth was decided, and immediately prior to the Werth decision,1 about fifteen jurisdictions have abrogated the distinction between invitees and licensees either wholly or to a large extent. Nine have continued the distinction, and twenty have not acted. Two have elevated the status of social guests into a separate category, and three continue to call them “licensees” but limit the harshness of the former distinction. In other words, about two-thirds of the jurisdictions which have reconsidered the distinction between licensees and invitees have abandoned the distinction and have adopted the modern rule.
I think it is high time for North Dakota to consider doing the same.
I concur in the result in this case because the question of abandonment of the distinction was not briefed or argued. I add this concurrence to make clear that my concurrence in this case is not based on any reliance on Werth v. Ashley Realty Co. except insofar as that decision states a rule temporarily in effect but likely to disappear at any time.
SAND and PEDERSON, JJ., concur in Justice VOGEL’s special concurrence.

. Minnesota abrogated the distinction thirteen days before Werth was released, and its decision appears in the same North Western Reporter volume as Werth. Peterson v. Balach, 294 Minn. 161, 199 N.W.2d 639 (1972).