Impact of Trespassing on Chicago Premises Liability Cases

A change in Illinois law occurred with the adoption of the Premises Liability Act. The distinction between the different status of people on land is now limited to trespassers and non-trespassers. This distinction of the status of the plaintiff in a Chicago premises liability case can have serious effects on the amount of damages and the determination of liability a person receives. In order to determine how this may impact your case, it is important to contact a skilled premises liability attorney.

Determining Whether Someone is Trespassing

When determining the status of the plaintiff in a Chicago premises liability case, one option; as a trespasser, who goes on the premises of another without expressed or implied permission, invitation or right. If someone comes on the land, their status can change. They can come on the land as a non-trespasser; because of their conduct while on the land, can become a trespasser.

Depending on their status, their rights change as well as the duties and obligations of the owner and occupier of the land. The status of an invitee or non-trespassers ceases when the visitor enters a portion of the premises to which the invitation did not extend and that the owner would not reasonably expect the invitee to use in connection with the expressed or implied scope of the original invitation or consent.

If someone comes into a store, obviously, they of course shop and make purchases. If there is a door that says “Employees only. Danger.” and they go through that door seeing the clearly marked sign; their status changes from a non-trespasser to a trespasser. The landowner may not owe them the same duties once they go through the door.

Rights and Obligations

Understanding the status of a plaintiff in a Chicago premises liability case helps determine their rights as well as the duties and obligations of the owners and the occupiers of the land. The duties of a trespasser are different than the duties to a non-trespasser.

The only duty of an owner or occupier of land to a trespasser: refrain from willful and wanton injuring. There are certain exceptions to that rule, and there are major exceptions that relate to a child.

Children And Trespassing

The issues relating to a child in premises liability cases are complex and clearly, protect the child. The issue is whether the owner or occupier of land could have foreseen the harm to the child. For example, perpetual or constant acquiescence to the trespassers by landowners and the tolerance is so pronounced that it is tantamount to permission. This concept under Illinois law called ‘permissive use’.

For example, if there is a construction site and there is a foundation that is dug and there is a large pile of earth and dirt and then there is a hole where the foundation is going to be poured and kids are routinely riding their bikes and enjoying using the construction site as an obstacle course of sorts, if the owner of the land acquiesces in that kind of use, even though the child may have been a trespasser, the owner or the occupier of the land acquiesces into such use and therefore has a duty to make sure that conditions on the land are safe for those children in the way that they are using it.

The landowner cannot simply observe that kind of use of the land by trespassers, acquiesce to it and then claim they do not have a duty to protect the children. Their actions and acquiescence to that kind of conduct create a duty.

Discovered Trespasser Rule

Once a trespasser is discovered, the owner and occupier of land has a duty of reasonable care; called the ‘discovered trespasser rule’. Again, the landowner has a duty of reasonable care once the trespasser’s presence known.

If a landowner keeps wild tigers and learns that somebody has trespassed on their land, there are a number of issues, because owning a tiger is a hazardous activity. If they know of a danger that a trespasser may not perceive; then they have a duty at that point to protect them. Yes, even though the individual on their land entered the land as a trespasser or without an invitation or permission.

Duty of Care- Trespassing

If artificial conditions are highly dangerous to known trespassing then the landowner has a legal duty of care. Once a landowner reasonably anticipates the presence of a trespasser in a place of danger, the landowner should be held to a duty of ordinary care to warn the trespasser of the danger.

The trespasser must show that the landowner knew or had reason to know of a trespasser’s presence and that the condition was of such a nature that the landowner had reason to believe that a trespasser would not discover it.

If there is a developing sinkhole on a property or a cave or a cavern or weakening trees that may fall or some other condition that the landowner knows about and he knows that people come on his land to hunt rabbits and they are aware of both the dangerous condition and the trespassers, at that point, the landowner, even though the people who are hunting the rabbits are trespassing, he has a duty to protect them even though their status is as a trespasser.

Contact us today for more information

Our office hours range from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and we answer our phones at 708-222-2222 24/7. If you prefer, we have an online form you can use or you can utilize our LiveChat service as well.