Open danger concept gets court clarity

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted November 25, 2014 2:41 PM

Walking to an eye clinic on a city sidewalk in downstate Centralia, a few days before her 80th birthday, Virginia Bruns — who reportedly admitted she was looking “towards the door and the steps” of the facility — allegedly tripped and fell because of a long-standing defect: A slab of concrete pushed up by a tree root. The city argued it owed no duty to Bruns because the hazard was open and obvious. She countered by invoking the distraction exception. Although the Illinois Appellate Court …

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