‘Distraction exception’ gains clarity from top court

By Andrew Maloney Law Bulletin staff writer

Posted September 18, 2014 2:40 PM

SPRINGFIELD — A cracked sidewalk in the southern Illinois city of Centralia had split a few courts over negligence law. But the Illinois Supreme Court patched things up today, ruling unanimously that the city should not be on the hook for the defective walkway that caused an elderly woman to trip and fall on her way to an eye clinic in 2012. In an 11-page opinion, Justice Mary Jane Theis wrote that the reason the then-80-year-old Virginia Bruns averted her attention from the “open and obvious&rdquo …

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