Court Opinion

ID: 9715264
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:58:53.239472+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:33.038366
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE CLARK, specially concurring: I concur in the judgment of the court. I disagree with the majority opinion only as to its conclusion that Wells Fargo did not owe a duty to the plaintiff. In my opinion the same issue was decided precisely to the contrary in Pippin v. Chicago Housing Authority (1979), 78 Ill. 2d 204. In Pippin we specifically concluded that an action, sounding in tort, will lie where a security agency contractually agrees to protect persons lawfully on the premises of a housing authority and the agency fails to exercise reasonable care in performing its obligation. (78 Ill. 2d 204, 212.) The duty owed to the plaintiff is measured by the terms of the contractual obligation. Whether the security agency failed to exercise reasonable care in the performance of its contractual obligation and thus whether the duty has been breached is “for the trier of fact to determine.” 78 Ill. 2d 204, 212. In the instant case, the majority has itself determined, as a matter of fact, that Wells Fargo’s promise to evaluate the security needs of the housing authority did not include evaluating whether guards should have been posted between the hours of 1 a.m. and 9 a.m. “It is not unreasonable to interpret the provision as calling for Wells Fargo to evaluate the security requirements during that period [from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m.].” (82 Ill. 2d at 319.) It seems just as reasonable to interpret the evaluation provision to require Wells Fargo to make a judgment as to whether security guards would, due to changing circumstances, need to be added between the lonely and ominous hours of 1 a.m. and 9 a.m. Whether either interpretation is more reasonable is for a trier of fact to determine based on evidence as to what the parties intended when they entered into the contract. I do not think the majority should summarily decide, on the basis of no evidence whatsoever, that Wells Fargo’s contractual obligation was so limited. To be consistent with. Pippin, whether the duty owed by Wells Fargo to the plaintiff was breached is a matter to be decided by the trier of fact. I do agree with the majority that since Wells Fargo’s suggestions were purely advisory, proximate cause is not established on this record. The housing authority could have disregarded the recommendations even if they had been made. Thus, the plaintiff would be unable to allege that were it not for Wells Fargo’s failure to make the recommendations, he would not have been injured.