Miller v. General Motors Corp.

• Decision Date: 06 December 1990
• Docket Number: No. 4-90-0127,4-90-0127
• Citation: 207 Ill.App.3d 148,152 Ill.Dec. 154,565 N.E.2d 687
• Parties: , 152 Ill.Dec. 154 Michael J. MILLER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 687

565 N.E.2d 687

207 Ill.App.3d 148, 152 Ill.Dec. 154

Michael J. MILLER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION Defendant-Appellant.

No. 4-90-0127.

Appellate Court of Illinois,

Fourth District.

Dec. 6, 1990.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 6, 1991.

John E. Muench, James C. Schroeder, Mayer, Brown & Platt, Chicago, Everett L. Laury, Hutton, Laury, Hesser, Lietz & Wilcox, Danville, Charles E. Fairfax III, G.M.C., Detroit, Mich., for defendant-appellant.

Edward J. Kionka, Carbondale, Warren E. White, Danville, for plaintiff-appellee.

Justice STEIGMANN delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Michael J. Miller, filed a two-count complaint against defendant, General Motors, alleging both negligence (count I) and wilful and wanton misconduct (count II) based upon injuries plaintiff suffered to his right hand. These injuries occurred when plaintiff touched a live wire approximately 13 feet off the ground while trespassing on defendant's property. The jury returned a verdict for plaintiff on both counts, awarding him $2 million in compensatory damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages. However, the jury also found plaintiff to be 25% contributorily negligent. Accordingly, compensatory damages were then reduced to $1.5 million.

On appeal, defendant argues that the judgment entered against it on both counts I and II should be reversed because (1) based on the limited duty defendant owed plaintiff (a) count I should have never been submitted to the jury, and (b) the trial court should have granted its motion for judgment n.o.v. because plaintiff did not sustain his burden of proving wilful and wanton misconduct by defendant; (2) the trial court erred because no aggravating factors were shown that could justify an award of punitive damages; (3) in the alternative, the $1.5 million award of punitive damages should be reduced because it is totally disproportionate to defendant's culpability; (4) the punitive damages award violated due process because the jury was given no standard with which to calculate the award; and (5) the trial court erred in excluding evidence of plaintiff's drinking and in admitting evidence of defendant's wealth.

We reverse.

I. FACTS

A. The Pumphouse

Defendant operates a foundry on land it owns near the Vermilion River, southwest of Danville, Illinois. Along the river is a massive pumphouse, built in the 1950's, that defendant uses to extract large amounts of water from the river for use in its foundry, located approximately one-half mile south of the river. To operate the pumps, overhead electrical lines enter the pumphouse from the south and connect to several electrical transformers located in an enclosed, elevated balcony. The pumps do not run constantly, but only when the water level of the reservoir drops to a certain point.

The balcony area, located on the south side of the pumphouse, is almost 10 feet off the ground and is surrounded by a steel shroud. This second-story balcony contains three electrical transformers which sit on an elevated platform approximately three feet above the balcony floor, which is constructed of wooden slats with gaps between them. These transformers, and several bare wires that feed into them, carry approximately 4,160 volts of electricity. The balcony, which extends out from the pumphouse, is enclosed by four walls, but only has a partial roof. Directly beneath the balcony is a locked door, leading to a room in the pumphouse, in which a ladder is kept. On occasion, defendant's employees use this ladder to gain access to the balcony by way of an overhead gap, 12 by 20 inches wide, located in the floor of the balcony.

In the 35 years since the pumphouse was built, no electrical contact accidents have occurred except for the incident in the present case. Evidence presented at trial showed that people occasionally trespassed in the general vicinity of the pumphouse, but no evidence showed that defendant had knowledge of any previous attempts by a trespasser to scale the pumphouse's wall and crawl through the gap in the floor of the balcony. Several of defendant's security officers testified at trial that whenever they discovered a trespasser on any portion of defendant's property, they promptly told the individual to leave the premises.

At the time of plaintiff's accident, the pumphouse did not have any warning signs, the paint on the pumphouse was peeling, and the fences surrounding the pumphouse on the river side had fallen into disrepair. In earlier years, warning signs had been posted on the fence gate, the pumphouse, and near the river's edge. At trial, plaintiff made much of the issue that the condition of the pumphouse and its surrounding area violated the National Electric Code and the National Electrical Safety Code.

B. The Accident

On June 13, 1984, plaintiff (then 20 years old) and Charles Boswell (then 19 years old) began a canoe trip down the Vermilion River. They canoed the river until nightfall, when they stopped to camp under a railroad trestle that crossed the river.

The next morning, plaintiff and Boswell decided to explore some of the river they had passed the night before. The day was sunny. Their first stop was the pumphouse.

The two paddled their canoe to the river bank and docked alongside a platform at the base of the pumphouse. Plaintiff and Boswell admitted at trial that they were trespassers and did not have defendant's permission to enter the property. Neither had seen the pumphouse before and did not know what it was. They thought it was an old abandoned structure. As soon as they docked, plaintiff got out of the canoe and quickly ran up some stairs located along the east side of the pumphouse. When Boswell reached the top of the stairs, plaintiff was already on the roof of the pumphouse. After jumping off the roof, plaintiff saw the lock on the pumphouse door and a fence with a closed and locked double gate, topped with barbed wire, in front of the pumphouse. A dirt road led southward from the gate. Neither plaintiff nor Boswell tried to open the gate or cross the fence. Plaintiff testified at trial that they thought they were on the outside looking in. Plaintiff then looked up through the gap in the balcony floor. He testified that, from below, the balcony was dark except for rays of light that came in through the partial roof. Plaintiff testified that he climbed up into the balcony to see what was there because he was curious.

Plaintiff gained access to the balcony by scaling a nine-foot wall with the aid of a pipe and some eyebolts sticking out of the wall. He then crawled through the 12- by 20-inch gap in the floor of the balcony and circumvented a ledge sticking out 8 to 10 inches from the top of the wall. After climbing into the balcony, plaintiff grabbed a live electrical wire in order to pull himself up. The wire on which plaintiff severely injured his hand was approximately 13 feet off the ground.

Plaintiff testified that before the accident he saw barrels and cables in the balcony, although his visibility was poor. Plaintiff admitted that he had previously seen transformers on utility poles, but he had never heard of them referred to as transformers. Plaintiff and Boswell testified that they did not see the three overhead transmission lines coming from the hill to the south, nor did they hear any noises coming from the balcony area.

After the accident, Boswell helped plaintiff climb down from the balcony. The two walked down the stairs to the canoe, paddled the river a short distance, and obtained a ride to the hospital. Plaintiff spent several painful weeks in the hospital and had a series of operations on his hand. As a result of the accident, plaintiff's hand is disfigured. He lost the little finger of his right hand and some dexterity in his other fingers. Also, his hand is not as strong as it was before the accident.

II. ANALYSIS

Before this court can address the primary issue defendant raises on appeal--whether the circuit court erred by denying defendant's post-trial motion for judgment n.o.v.--we must first determine what duty was owed by defendant to plaintiff on the facts of this case. Whether a duty exists in the first instance is a question of law. Ward v. K Mart Corp. (1990), 136 Ill.2d 132, 140, 143 Ill.Dec. 288, 291, 554 N.E.2d 223, 226.

A. General Principles of Duty Owed to a Trespasser

It is well settled that the liability of an owner or occupier of land (landowner) has been set in terms of duty. Those who enter upon land are generally divided into three fixed categories--trespassers, licensees, and invitees--and the landowner has specific duties regarding persons within each category. These three categories constitute a sliding scale, and, as the legal status of the "visitor" improves from trespasser to licensee to invitee, the landowner owes that "visitor" more protection. See W. Keeton, Prosser & Keeton on Torts § 58, at 393 (5th ed. 1984).

The lowest point on the "legal-duty-owed" scale is the trespasser, defined as a person who enters or remains upon land in the possession of another without a privilege to do so. (Restatement (Second) of Torts § 329 (1965); Wymer v. Holmes (1987), 429 Mich. 66, 412 N.W.2d 213; Mendoza v. City of Corpus Christi (Tex.Ct.App.1985), 700 S.W.2d 652.) Because the landowner has a legally protected interest in the exclusiveness of his possession, no one has any general right to enter that land without his consent. (Restatement (Second) of Torts § 329 (1965).) Additionally, because a landowner is free to fix his own terms for consent, an "intruder" who comes on the possessor's land without his permission has no right to demand that the possessor provide him with a safe place to trespass, or that the possessor protect him in his wrongful use of the possessor's property. (Restatement (Second) of Torts § 329 (1965).) When the "intruder" enters where he has no right or privilege to go, he assumes both the responsibility for his...