Posted on October 11, 2017 in Blog Post

Illinois businesses owe state residents a duty of care in protecting them from on-site injuries or exposure to hazardous chemicals or waste. This duty is above and beyond what individuals owe to one another in daily life in ordinary civil society. This is because businesses are soliciting the business of its customers in an effort to exchange goods or services for financial compensation.

A customer, in the eyes of the law, is what is known as an “invitee.” Invitees, importantly, are owed elevating safekeeping under state law. To put this duty in practical terms, the example of a grocery store – a business common to all – is helpful. With all of the people milling about a grocer’s aisles, shopping carts being pushed around (sometimes wildly by children), and some senior citizens utilized motorized shopping vehicles, it is not uncommon for there to be a spill of solid or liquid food on the store’s tile floors. Owing a duty to its “invitee” customer, the grocery store, as a business, must promptly clean up this spills and, in the process, post warning signs to alert customers of the danger of slick floors.

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