Strappelli v. City of Chicago

• Decision Date: 05 April 1939
• Docket Number: No. 24845.,24845.
• Citation: 20 N.E.2d 43,371 Ill. 72
• Parties: STRAPPELLI v. CITY OF CHICAGO.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

371 Ill. 72

20 N.E.2d 43

STRAPPELLI

v.CITY OF CHICAGO.

No. 24845.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Feb. 15, 1939.

Rehearing Denied April 5, 1939.

Appeal from Third Division Appellate Court, First District, on Appeal from Circuit Court, Cook County; John T. Cummings, Judge.

Action by Robert Strappelli against the City of Chicago for personal injuries sustained because of allegedly unsafe condition of safety island. Judgment for plaintiff for $5,000 was sustained by the Appellate Court for the First District, 295 Ill. App. 469, 14 N.E.2d 986, and the City of Chicago was granted leave to appeal by the Supreme Court.

Judgments reversed.Barnet Hodes, Corp. Counsel, of Chicago (Alexander J. Resa and Lionel J. Berc, both of Chicago, of counsel), for appellant.

Barasa, Rinella & Barasa, of Chicago (Joseph Barbera, of Chicago, of counsel), for appellee.

ORR, Justice.

The question for decision is whether a city, which builds and maintains safety islands to protect those waiting for or alighting from street cars from injury by passing vehicles, is under a greater duty to remove snow and ice from such safety islands than from its sidewalks. The Appellate Court for the First District affirmed a judgment of $5000 for personal injuries allegedly caused by the failure of the city to remove snow and ice from one of its safety islands. We granted leave to appeal.

The material facts are not in dispute. The accident from which the suit arose occurred on the afternoon of January 8, 1936, on Western avenue, in Chicago, just north of its intersection with Cornelia avenue. At this place a safety island or concrete platfrom is located for the convenience of persons waiting for, boarding or leaving street cars. Plaintiff, a student at Lane Technical high school, went to the safety island in question to board a southbound Western avenue street car. The safety island there is approximately 100 feet long, about 4 1/2 feet wide and is about 4 inches above the street level. On its east side are located street car tracks, while vehicular traffic passes on the west. On January 6, snow to the depth of 4 inches was recorded in Chicago and by January 8 its depth had increased to 4.1 inches. The entire surface of the safety island was covered with ice and snow at a depth of from 1 to 4 inches and was very lumpy or irregular, due to many footprints. On the eastern edge of the safety platform there was a slope of solid ice from the middle of the island down to the west rail of the south-bound car tracks. At the time of the accident some twenty-five or more passengers were there waiting to board a street car. Before the car came to a stop the students and others waiting on the safety island started moving toward its rear entrnace and it was then that plaintiff slipped under the car and sustained injuries which required the amputation of the middle toes of his left foot. The only conflict in the evidence is as to the depth of the ice and snow and its degree of roughness. It appears that this surface roughness had existed for a period of forty-eight hours prior to the accident.

In a comparatively recent decision, Graham v. City of Chicago, 346 Ill. 638, 178 N.E. 911, 912, this court reviewed at length the conflicting authorities relating to the general liability of cities for removal of snow and ice from streets and sidewalks. We there laid down a general rule applicable to such cases, including the one at bar, in the following language: ‘What, if any, duty devolves upon a city to remove ice from its sidewalks is a subject of a great variety of opinions, and, because of this divergence of views, a...