Rosett v. Schatzman

510 N.E.2d 968, 157 Ill. App. 3d 939, 109 Ill. Dec. 900, 1987 Ill. App. LEXIS 2791
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 18, 1987
Docket86-1680
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 510 N.E.2d 968 (Rosett v. Schatzman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rosett v. Schatzman, 510 N.E.2d 968, 157 Ill. App. 3d 939, 109 Ill. Dec. 900, 1987 Ill. App. LEXIS 2791 (Ill. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

JUSTICE JOHNSON

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Sylvia Rosett, brought an action in the circuit court of Cook County against defendant, Leatrice Schatzman. Plaintiff and defendant each own a home in Illinois and a home in Florida. Plaintiff sought damages for injuries suffered while a social guest in defendant’s Florida home. The trial court ruled that Illinois law, rather than Florida law, applied to this case. Applying Illinois law, the trial court granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff now appeals, raising many issues. We will address only her contention that Florida law, rather than Illinois law, applies to this case.

We reverse and remand.

The record shows that plaintiff and defendant have lived in Chicago, Illinois, and have been friends for at least 30 years. Plaintiff and defendant each bought a home, one near the other, at the same time in Boca Raton, Florida. For several years, plaintiff spent approximately six to seven weeks in January and February at her Florida home. Defendant spent approximately two weeks in February and two weeks in August at her Florida home. Plaintiff and defendant visited each other often in Chicago; they visited each other in Florida every winter.

The record further shows that a sliding glass door separates the living room from the patio in defendant’s Florida home. The door slides in a metal ledge that protrudes approximately two inches from the floor. Plaintiff alleged in her complaint that she was a social guest in defendant’s Florida home on February 2, 1982. Plaintiff further alleged that, walking from the living room to the patio, she tripped on the ledge, fell and suffered injuries.

Plaintiff filed her complaint on February 1, 1984. She alleged that defendant owed her the duty of exercising reasonable care in maintaining her property, that defendant breached this duty, and that she was injured as a proximate result of defendant’s negligence. Plaintiff sought $15,000 in damages. Defendant filed her answer on September 14, 1984. Defendant denied plaintiff’s material allegations and, as an affirmative defense, stated that she did not owe plaintiff a duty of reasonable care, but rather, a duty not to act wilfully and wantonly.

Defendant moved for summary judgment on October 18, 1985. She contended that the law of Illinois applied to the facts of this case rather than Florida law. Noting that plaintiff was a social guest, defendant argued that, under Illinois law, she owed plaintiff only the duty not to act wilfully and wantonly. Since plaintiff did not allege that she (defendant) acted wilfully or wantonly, and since the facts would not support such an allegation if plaintiff made one, defendant argued that she was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.

In response, plaintiff contended that Florida law applied to the facts of this case. Plaintiff noted that under Florida law, a property owner owes all persons on their property a duty of reasonable care under the circumstances. Since she properly stated a cause of action in negligence, plaintiff argued that summary judgment was improper.

On June 9, 1986, the trial court ruled that the law of Illinois applied to this case. The trial court next found that no factual issue existed as to any wilful and wanton misconduct by defendant. Thus, applying Illinois law to the facts, the trial court granted summary judgment for defendant. Plaintiff appeals.

In an action for negligence, a plaintiff must establish the existence of a duty of care that the defendant owes to the plaintiff, a breach of that duty and an injury proximately caused by the breach. The question of duty, “i.e., whether the defendant and the plaintiff stood in such a relationship to one another that the law imposed upon the defendant a obligation of reasonable conduct for the plaintiff’s benefit, is one of law for determination by the court.” Cunis v. Brennan (1974), 56 Ill. 2d 372, 374, 308 N.E.2d 617, 618.

Further, if the pleadings and other documents contain all of the evidence before the trial court, and if such evidence contains no issues of fact for a jury, requiring the court to direct a verdict, then the court should enter summary judgment. Additionally, summary judgment is proper when only a question of law is involved. Since the issue of duty is a question of law, summary judgment is proper if, under the pleadings and other documents, it appears that defendant owed no duty to plaintiff. Barnes v. Washington (1973), 56 Ill. 2d 22, 26-27, 305 N.E.2d 535, 538.

The issue before us, therefore, is what was the duty that defendant owed to plaintiff. To answer this question, we must first determine whether the applicable law is that of Illinois or of Florida.

Under Illinois law at the time of plaintiff’s injury, the duty of a landowner to a person who entered the premises depended upon whether the person was an invitee, licensee, or trespasser. An invitee entered the premises of another by express or implied invitation, essentially for the landowner’s or mutual business. A licensee entered the premises of another by express or implied permission, essentially for his or her own purposes rather than for the landowner’s or mutual business. A trespasser entered the premises of another without invitation or permission. (Grimwood v. Tabor Grain Co. (1985), 130 Ill. App. 3d 708, 710-11, 474 N.E.2d 920, 922, citing Trout v. Bank of Belleville (1976), 36 Ill. App. 3d 83, 86-87, 343 N.E.2d 261, 264-65.) A social guest was a licensee. (Kapka v. Urbaszewski (1964), 47 Ill. App. 2d 321, 326, 198 N.E.2d 569, 572.) A landowner owed a duty of reasonable care for the safety of an invitee, but owed a duty only to not wilfully and wantonly injure a licensee or a trespasser. Grimwood v. Tabor Grain Co. (1985), 130 Ill. App. 3d 708, 710, 474 N.E.2d 920, 922, citing Trout v. Bank of Belleville (1976), 36 Ill. App. 3d 83, 86-87, 343 N.E.2d 261, 264.

Florida law has eliminated “the distinction between commercial (business or public) visitors and social guests upon the premises, applying to both the single standard of reasonable care under the circumstances.” (Wood v. Camp (Fla. 1973), 284 So. 2d 691, 695.) Florida has retained, however, the separate category of trespasser (284 So. 2d 691, 695) and a landowner’s corresponding limited duty only to avoid harming the person wilfully and wantonly. (Arias v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. (Fla. App. 1983), 426 So. 2d 1136, 1138.) We note that this is now the law of Illinois. (111. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 80, pars. 302, 303.) This action arose, however, before the effective date of the statute.

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Bluebook (online)
510 N.E.2d 968, 157 Ill. App. 3d 939, 109 Ill. Dec. 900, 1987 Ill. App. LEXIS 2791, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rosett-v-schatzman-illappct-1987.