Plaintiff filed a wrongful death suit against the Chicago Transit Authority resulting from the decedent being struck by a transit train after he trespassed into a CTA tunnel and fell next to the tracks. The question on appeal was whether the CTA owed a duty of care to the decedent. The circuit court held that the CTA owed no legal duty to protect the decedent from the open and obvious danger of a moving train. The appellate court reversed, finding the allegations of the complaint sufficient to establish a legally recognized duty under section 337 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts where plaintiff alleged that the decedent was a discovered trespasser in a position of peril. The Supreme Court reversed the appellate court, finding that section 337 did not apply to an open and obvious danger and that no further duty was owed under the circumstances alleged and where the plaintiff did not allege willful or wanton misconduct. (ANNE M. BURKE, MICHAEL J. BURKE, OVERSTREET, and CARTER, concurring. NEVILLE and HOLDER WHITE took no part in the decision.)
Illinois Supreme Court
Civil Court
Duty of Care