Court Opinion

ID: 9860448
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 23:22:19.736756+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:24:18.765443
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE JIGANTI, dissenting: Margaret Pinto brought this action against the Village of Alsip contending that the Village was negligent in maintaining its parkway. A jury returned a verdict in favor of Pinto and against the Village. The majority concludes that as a matter of law Pinto had not presented sufficient evidence of the negligence of the Village, reasoning that the Village did not have constructive notice of the condition of the parkway. Whether there is sufficient evidence to permit an inference of negligence as opposed to mere speculation is a question of judgment. (Consolino v. Thompson (1984), 127 Ill. App. 3d 31, 33, 468 N.E.2d 422.) These factual settings ordinarily are not precedential. (Consolino v. Thompson, 127 Ill. App. 3d 31, 468 N.E.2d 422.) In my judgment, the jury was properly within its province in drawing the inference that the Village was negligent. Consequently, I respectfully dissent. The Village has a statutory duty to maintain its property in a “reasonably safe condition.” However, the statute provides that the Village shall not be liable for injury “unless it is proven that it has actual or constructive notice of the existence of such a condition that is not reasonably safe in sufficient time prior to an injury to have taken measures to remedy or protect against such condition.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 85, par. 3—102(a).) In discharging its duty to maintain its property in a reasonably safe condition, a Village has an affirmative duty to observe, to inspect and to inquire in order to ascertain whether an area is safe. (Roberts v. City of Sterling (1959), 22 Ill. App. 2d 337, 347-48, 161 N.E.2d 138.) It has been held that a municipality must anticipate defects that are the natural and ordinary result of climatic influences. (Roberts v. City of Sterling (1959), 22 Ill. App. 2d 337, 161 N.E.2d 138; Sherwin v. City of Aurora (1913), 257 Ill. 458, 464, 100 N.E. 938; Baker v. City of Granite City (1941), 311 Ill. App. 586, 592, 37 N.E.2d 372.) Ordinarily the question of constructive notice is a question of fact for the jury. Baker v. City of Granite City (1941), 311 Ill. App. 586, 592, 37 N.E.2d 372. The Village here made no inspections and had no plans for making inspections. Twice in the months immediately before this occurrence there had been holes in the parkway that had to be filled. The plaintiff sank into the hole in the parkway up to her thigh. The Village had a duty to maintain the parkway and an affirmative duty to make inspections, which it failed to do. Under these circumstances, I believe it was appropriate for the jury to determine whether, as a matter of fact, the Village had constructive notice and therefore whether the Village maintained its property in a reasonably safe condition.