Court Opinion

ID: 9745894
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 13:41:30.03792+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:06.068987
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE COOK, specially concurring: I question whether the introduction to IPI Civil (Supp. 2003) No. 55.02 accurately reflects the law. As I understand the introduction, the retention of the mere “ability to stop unsafe work and not permit it to be resumed until done to the satisfaction of the controlling entity” (IPI Civil (Supp. 2003) No. 55.00, Introduction, at 16) is sufficient for the imposition of a duty. Every owner, general contractor, and employer would appear to have that ability, and the introduction would apparently impose a duty in every case. I believe comment c to section 414 is still persuasive. “Such a general right is usually reserved to employers, but it does not mean that the contractor is controlled as to his methods of work, or as to operative detail.” Restatement (Second) of Torts § 414, Comment c, at 388. Comment c would not equate that general right with “control” or to mean that the contractor is “not entirely free to do the work in his own way.” I would not find a duty in every case, only when there is something more than the minimal relationship between the parties. I believe that is what IPI Civil (Supp. 2003) No. 55.02 means when it says that “[a] party who [has] retained some control over the safety of the work has a duty.” IPI Civil (Supp. 2003) No. 55.02.