Valerie Koenig Vs. Marc Koenig ( 2009 )

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF IOWA
No. 07–1586
Filed June 5, 2009
VALERIE KOENIG,
Appellant,
vs.
MARC KOENIG,
Appellee.
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Robert B.
Hanson, Judge.
Plaintiff appeals judgment in negligence suit seeking abandonment
of the common-law classifications for premises liability. REVERSED.
Marc S. Harding, Des Moines, for appellant.
Jason T. Madden and Amy R. Teas of Bradshaw, Fowler, Proctor &
Fairgrave, P.C., Des Moines, for appellee.
2
APPEL, Justice.
The question of whether Iowa should retain the traditional
common-law distinction between an invitee and a licensee in premises
liability cases has sharply divided this court in recent years. In this
case, we hold that the common-law distinction between an invitee and a
licensee no longer makes sound policy, unnecessarily complicates our
law, and should be abandoned.
I. Background Facts and Proceedings.
Valerie Koenig visited the home of her son, Marc Koenig, when he
was ill in order to care for him and help with household chores. After
doing laundry, she fell on a carpet cleaner hose while carrying clothes to
a bedroom. As a result of the fall, Valerie was injured and required
medical care, including the placement of a plate in her leg.
Valerie filed a petition alleging that Marc’s negligent conduct
caused her permanent injuries, pain and suffering, loss of function, and
substantial medical costs. Marc generally denied her claim and further
asserted that Valerie was negligent in connection with the occurrence
and that she failed to mitigate her damages.
At trial, Valerie offered evidence that Marc was aware that the
carpet cleaner hose was broken but did not warn her of the defect.
Valerie further offered evidence that the color of the hose blended in with
the color of the carpet, thereby making it difficult to see, and that one of
two lights in the hallway near where she fell was not working, which
lessened the light available to detect the hazard. Marc offered evidence
that the broken hose was an open and obvious hazard and that Valerie
did not turn on the light which was functioning in the hallway area.
At the close of trial, Valerie sought a general negligence instruction
rather than the uniform jury instruction on the duty of care owed to a
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licensee. The district court found that the law in Iowa on the proper
instruction in a premises liability case was unsettled, declined to give the
general negligence instruction sought by Valerie, and instead used the
uniform jury instruction for licensees.
The jury returned a verdict in favor of Marc. After the district
court entered judgment, Valerie filed a motion for a new trial based on
the district court’s failure to use her proposed general negligence
instruction. Although the district court stated that it did not necessarily
disagree with Valerie’s position, it denied the motion. The district court
noted that “Iowa appellate courts have not yet ruled that continued use
of the stock instructions for premises liability cases constitutes error.”
Further, the district court questioned whether Valerie could demonstrate
that prejudice occurred as a result of the use of the uniform instructions.
Valerie filed a timely notice of appeal.
II. Standard of Review.
We review challenges to jury instructions for correction of errors at
law. Boyle v. Alum-Line, Inc., 710 N.W.2d 741, 748 (Iowa 2006). We
must determine whether the jury instructions presented “are a correct
statement of the applicable law based on the evidence presented.” Le v.
Vaknin, 722 N.W.2d 412, 414 (Iowa 2006).
“Error in giving or refusing to give” a jury instruction does not
warrant reversal unless it results in prejudice to the complaining party.
Wells v. Enter. Rent-A-Car Midwest, 690 N.W.2d 33, 36 (Iowa 2004).
Prejudice, however, is presumed and reversal required “when
instructions are conflicting and confusing.” Waits v. United Fire & Cas.
Co., 572 N.W.2d 565, 575 (Iowa 1997); Moser v. Stallings, 387 N.W.2d
599, 605 (Iowa 1986). Similarly, “[w]hen jury instructions contain a
material misstatement of the law, the trial court has no discretion to
4
deny a motion for a new trial.” Benn v. Thomas, 512 N.W.2d 537, 539
(Iowa 1994); Brown v. Lyon, 258 Iowa 1216, 1222, 142 N.W.2d 536, 539
(1966). An instruction which allocates the burden of proof is a material
instruction. Kaspar v. Schack, 237 N.W.2d 414, 417 (Neb. 1976).
III. Discussion.
A. Origin and Rationale of Common-Law Distinctions. The
premises liability trichotomy, which distinguishes between invitees,
licensees, and trespassers, finds its roots in the English common law.
John Ketchum, Note, Missouri Declines an Invitation to Join the Twentieth
Century: Preservation of the Licensee-Invitee Distinction in Carter v.
Kinney, 64 UMKC L. Rev. 393, 395 (1995). “The distinctions which the
common law draws between licensee and invitee were inherited from a
culture deeply rooted to the land, a culture which traced many of its
standards to a heritage of feudalism.” Kermarec v. Compagnie Generale
Transatlantique, 358 U.S. 625, 630, 79 S. Ct. 406, 410, 3 L. Ed. 2d 550,
554 (1959). The trichotomy emerged in an era where land ownership
was paramount and the primary source of power, wealth, and
dominance. Nelson v. Freeland, 507 S.E.2d 882, 887 (N.C. 1998). At the
core of the trichotomy was the presumption that landowners generally
were free to act as they pleased within the confines of their own property.
Robert S. Driscoll, Note, The Law of Premises Liability in America: Its
Past, Present, and Some Considerations for Its Future, 82 Notre Dame L.
Rev. 881, 893 (2006).
These common-law classifications arose from reluctance “to leave
the determination of liability to a jury ‘composed mainly of potential land
entrants.’ ” Michael Sears, Comment, Abrogation of the Traditional
Common Law of Premises Liability, 44 U. Kan. L. Rev. 175, 176 (1995)
(quoting Norman S. Marsh, The History and Comparative Law of Invitees,
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Licensees and Trespassers, 69 L.Q. Rev. 182, 184 (1953)). The
distinctions, therefore, were
created to disgorge the jury of some of its power by either
allowing the judge to take the case from the jury based on
legal rulings or by forcing the jury to apply the mechanical
rules of the trichotomy instead of considering the pertinent
issue of whether the landowner acted reasonably in
maintaining his land.
Nelson, 507 S.E.2d at 887.
The trichotomy emerged in a time of tort law far different from our
own. When the trichotomy was developing, “the principle that a man
should be held responsible for foreseeable damages” was only reluctantly
recognized in a limited number of cases. Id. Today, the situation has
changed dramatically as the concept of negligence is a predominant
concept in our tort law.
The emergence of negligence law almost immediately conflicted
with the common-law system. Kathryn E. Eriksen, Comment, Premises
Liability in Texas—Time for a “Reasonable” Change, 17 St. Mary’s L.J.
417, 422 (1986). “Common-law courts, however, decided not to replace
the trichotomy with modern principles of negligence law, as they did in
almost all other tort areas, but rather ‘superimposed the new [negligence]
principles upon the existing framework of entrant categories.’ ” Nelson,
507 S.E.2d at 887–88 (quoting Sears, 44 U. Kan. L. Rev. at 176).
Modern courts that have retained the trichotomy have largely set
forth the traditional justifications: (1) the continued fear of jury abuse;
(2) the fear that by “substituting the negligence standard of care for the
common-law categories, landowners will be forced to bear” the financial
burden of taking precautions such as maintaining adequate insurance
policies; and (3) the need to promote stability and predictability in the
law. Id. at 888.
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B. Trend in Other Jurisdictions. The first American blow to the
trichotomy was hurled by the United States Supreme Court. 1 In
Kermarec, the Court refused to extend the common-law distinctions to
admiralty law. The Court heavily criticized the doctrine, noting:
In an effort to do justice in an industrialized urban society,
with its complex economic and individual relationships,
modern common-law courts have found it necessary to
formulate increasingly subtle verbal refinements, to create
subclassifications among traditional common-law categories,
and to delineate fine gradations in the standards of care
which the landowner owes to each. Yet even within a single
jurisdiction, the classifications and subclassifications bred
by the common law have produced confusion and conflict.
As new distinctions have been spawned, older ones have
become obscured. Through this semantic morass the
common law has moved, unevenly and with hesitation,
towards “imposing on owners and occupiers a single duty of
reasonable care in all the circumstances.”
Kermarec, 358 U.S. at 630–31, 79 S. Ct. at 410, 3 L. Ed. 2d at 554–55
(quoting Kermarec v. Compagnie Generale Transaltlantique, 245 F.2d 175,
180 (2d Cir. 1957) (Clark, C.J., dissenting)).
After Kermarec, the movement away from the common-law
distinctions received a major boost in 1968 with the California Supreme
Court’s decision in Rowland v. Christian, 443 P.2d 561 (Cal. 1968),
abrogated in part by statute as stated in Calvillo-Silva v. Home Grocery,
968 P.2d 65, 72 (Cal. 1998). In rejecting application of the common-law
formulation, the Rowland court noted,
[W]e are satisfied that continued adherence to the common
law distinctions can only lead to injustice or, if we are to
avoid injustice, further fictions with the resulting complexity
and confusion. We decline to follow and perpetuate such
rigid classifications . . . although the plaintiff’s status as a
trespasser, licensee, or invitee may in the light of the facts
1The creators of the trichotomy proved to also be its first detractors. England
passed the Occupiers’ Liability Act of 1957 effectively eliminating the distinction
between an invitee and licensee from English law. Driscoll, 82 Notre Dame L. Rev. at
885.
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giving rise to such status have some bearing on the question
of liability, the status is not determinative.
443 P.2d at 568. Following Rowland, numerous courts abandoned the
common-law system. See Smith v. Arbaugh’s Rest., Inc., 469 F.2d 97,
107 (D.C. Cir. 1972); Webb v. City & Borough of Sitka, 561 P.2d 731, 734
(Alaska 1977), abrogated in part by statute as stated in Univ. of Alaska v.
Shanti, 835 P.2d 1225, 1228 n.5 (Alaska 1992); Mile High Fence Co. v.
Radovich, 489 P.2d 308, 314–15 (Colo. 1971), abrogated by statute as
stated in Bath Excavating & Constr. Co. v. Wills, 847 P.2d 1141, 1145
(Colo. 1993); Pickard v. City & County of Honolulu, 452 P.2d 445, 446
(Haw. 1969); Cates v. Beauregard Elec. Coop., Inc., 328 So. 2d 367, 370–
71 (La. 1976); Limberhand v. Big Ditch Co., 706 P.2d 491, 496 (Mont.
1985); Moody v. Manny’s Auto Repair, 871 P.2d 935, 942 (Nev. 1994),
superseded by statute as stated in Wiley v. Redd, 885 P.2d 592, 595
(Nev. 1994); Ouellette v. Blanchard, 364 A.2d 631, 634 (N.H. 1976);
Basso v. Miller, 352 N.E.2d 868, 872 (N.Y. 1976); Mariorenzi v. Joseph
DiPonte, Inc., 333 A.2d 127, 131–32 (R.I. 1975), overruled in part by
Tantimonico v. Allendale Mut. Ins. Co., 637 A.2d 1056, 1057 (R.I. 1994);
see also Vitauts M. Gulbis, Annotation, Modern Status of Rules
Conditioning Landowner’s Liability Upon Status of Injured Party as Invitee,
Licensee, or Trespasser, 22 A.L.R. 4th 294 (2008).
After Rowland, however, a second, more moderate trend began to
emerge in the case law. Instead of abandoning the trichotomy entirely,
some courts began to abandon the distinction between invitees and
licensees, while retaining the trespasser classification. See Wood v.
Camp, 284 So. 2d 691, 695 (Fla. 1973); Jones v. Hansen, 867 P.2d 303,
310 (Kan. 1994); Poulin v. Colby Coll., 402 A.2d 846, 851 n.5 (Me. 1979);
Mounsey v. Ellard, 297 N.E.2d 43, 51–52 & n.7 (Mass. 1973); Peterson v.
8
Balach, 199 N.W.2d 639, 642 (Minn. 1972); Heins v. Webster County,
552 N.W.2d 51, 57 (Neb. 1996); Ford v. Bd. of County Comm’rs, 879 P.2d
766, 770 (N.M. 1994); Nelson, 507 S.E.2d at 892; O’Leary v. Coenen, 251
N.W.2d 746, 751 (N.D. 1977); Hudson v. Gaitan, 675 S.W.2d 699, 703
(Tenn. 1984), overruled in part on other grounds by McIntyre v. Balentine,
833 S.W.2d 52, 54 (Tenn. 1992); Mallet v. Pickens, 522 S.E.2d 436, 446
(W. Va. 1999); Antoniewicz v. Reszcynski, 236 N.W.2d 1, 11 (Wis. 1975);
Clarke v. Beckwith, 858 P.2d 293, 296 (Wyo. 1993).
Still other states, including Iowa, limited the common-law system
by refusing to apply the doctrine to child entrants. See Cope v. Doe, 464
N.E.2d 1023, 1028 (Ill. 1984); Rosenau v. City of Estherville, 199 N.W.2d
125, 136 (Iowa 1972). Some courts and the Restatement drew another
exception—imposing a duty of reasonable care upon landowners to warn
a “discovered” or “foreseeable” trespasser of any dangerous condition
which is known by the landowner but not by the trespasser. See 2
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 337 cmt. b (1979); Appling v. Stuck, 164
N.W.2d 810, 814–15 (Iowa 1969); Latimer v. City of Clovis, 495 P.2d 788,
792 (N.M. Ct. App. 1972) (reversing summary judgment because there
was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether decedent was a
discovered or ordinary trespasser).
Although a bare majority of states have now departed from the
original trichotomy in some fashion, a number of courts have declined to
abandon the common-law system. See McMullan v. Butler, 346 So. 2d
950, 952 (Ala. 1977); Nicoletti v. Westcor, Inc., 639 P.2d 330, 332 (Ariz.
1982); Bailey v. Pennington, 406 A.2d 44, 47–48 (Del. 1979); Mooney v.
Robinson, 471 P.2d 63, 65 (Idaho 1970); Kirschner ex rel. Kirschner v.
Louisville Gas & Elec. Co., 743 S.W.2d 840, 844 (Ky. 1988); Sherman v.
Suburban Trust Co., 384 A.2d 76, 83 (Md. 1978); Little ex rel. Little v. Bell,
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719 So. 2d 757, 764 (Miss. 1998); Vega ex rel. Muniz v. Piedilato, 713
A.2d 442, 448–49 (N.J. 1998); Sutherland v. Saint Francis Hosp., Inc.,
595 P.2d 780, 782 (Okla. 1979); Di Gildo v. Caponi, 247 N.E.2d 732, 736
(Ohio 1969); Musch v. H-D Elec. Coop., Inc., 460 N.W.2d 149, 156–57
(S.D. 1990); Buchholz v. Steitz, 463 S.W.2d 451, 454 (Tex. Civ. App.
1971); Tjas v. Proctor, 591 P.2d 438, 441 (Utah 1979).
In total, the jurisdictions are now split, with a majority of states
departing from the common-law classifications in some manner, and a
substantial minority either rejecting abolition or not taking a recent
position.
C. Prior Iowa Case Law. Almost four decades ago this court
noted, “The application of rigid common-law rules (which turn the
liability of the land possessor on the status of the person harmed) in the
context of our complex, industrialized and heavily populated society has
come under increasing criticism.” Rosenau, 199 N.W.2d at 135. Despite
this observation, this court has not yet expressly rejected use of the
common-law system in the intervening years. See id. (“We observe
common-law classifications of injured parties have proliferated in our
own decisions.”); see also Paul v. Luigi’s, Inc., 557 N.W.2d 895, 897 (Iowa
1997) (explaining court’s reluctance to conclusively establish land
possessor’s duty of care on the basis of injured party’s status); Pottebaum
v. Hinds, 347 N.W.2d 642, 645 (Iowa 1984) (same).
The question of the continued validity of the trichotomy was
squarely raised in Sheets v. Ritt, Ritt & Ritt, Inc., 581 N.W.2d 602 (Iowa
1998). In Sheets, the plaintiff sued the operators of a motel after she
slipped and fell in the shower area of the ladies’ locker room. Sheets,
581 N.W.2d at 603. Just as in the case at hand, the Sheets plaintiff
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sought a general jury instruction on negligence as opposed to the
trichotomy approach. Id. at 604.
In addressing the issue, a plurality of the court recognized its
longstanding disenchantment with the common-law distinctions. Id.
The plurality then concluded that this court has not previously abrogated
the trichotomy for the pragmatic determination that the plaintiff had not
suffered harm due to the use of the common-law jury instructions. Id. at
606. The plurality noted the dozens of jurisdictions that had abrogated
the common-law formula, either in whole or in part—abolishing the
distinction between invitees and licensees. Id. at 605. Finally, the
plurality concluded that although “adoption of comparative fault [did] not
seem to have been the usual catalyst for abandonment of the common-
law distinctions,” the common-law distinctions must now be abandoned
in Iowa. The plurality reasoned that “assigning duties to owners or
occupiers of land on the basis of the status of a visitor is . . .
unreasonable and unfair.” Id.
The Sheets decision, however, was only joined by four justices.
Four other justices concurred in result, determining that the plaintiff was
not prejudiced by the use of the common-law instructions, but remaining
unwilling to abandon the traditional classifications. Id. at 607. Justice
Lavorato took no part, leaving the fundamental issue unresolved.
A year later, this court reasserted its commitment to the common-
law distinctions. In Richardson v. Commodore, Inc., 599 N.W.2d 693, 695
(Iowa 1999), a bar patron sued the operators of the bar after he was
struck by falling plaster while playing pool. The issue in Richardson,
however, was not the validity of the jury instructions, but rather whether
there was sufficient evidence to impute knowledge of the dangerous
condition—the sagging plaster ceiling—to the defendants. Richardson,
11
599 N.W.2d at 697. This court nevertheless took the opportunity in
Richardson to include the following footnote:
Although a plurality of the court would abrogate any
distinction based on the status of the plaintiff, see Sheets v.
Ritt, Ritt & Ritt, Inc., 581 N.W.2d 602, 603 (Iowa 1998), that
position has not yet gained the approval of a majority of this
court. Therefore, the status of the plaintiff continues to be a
relevant consideration in premises liability law.
Id. at 698 n.3.
This court next addressed the trichotomy in Alexander v. Medical
Associates Clinic, 646 N.W.2d 74 (Iowa 2002). In Alexander, the plaintiff
trespassed into an undeveloped open field next to the defendant’s office
building to retrieve his sister’s dog. Alexander, 646 N.W.2d at 75. The
plaintiff was injured when, walking in darkness, he fell into a ditch and
hurt his knee. Id. The only issue in Alexander was whether Iowa should
abandon the common-law rule of trespasser liability and replace it with a
duty of reasonable care under the circumstances. Id. Canvassing the
case law in other jurisdictions, this court determined that only six states
use a negligence standard to govern trespasser liability, twenty-nine
states declined the opportunity to abrogate the common-law trespasser
standard, “and two state legislatures . . . reinstated the common-law
trespasser rule after it had been abolished by court decision.” Id. at 78.
The Alexander court concluded that an overwhelming number of courts
retained the common-law trespasser rule (1) because the rule retains
validity in modern day life as recognition of the social good of property
ownership/control; and (2) because the “rule is . . . better suited to
achieve a reasonable balance between individual property rights and the
interests of a trespasser.” Id. at 79.
Due to his recusal in Sheets, then Chief Justice Lavorato had
theretofore been silent on validity of the common-law distinctions. He
12
rectified that omission in Alexander by writing a special concurrence. Id.
at 80 (Lavorato, C.J., specially concurring). The special concurrence
favored abolition of the common-law distinctions noting that they were
borne of a different time “and in a wholly different legal climate from the
one that exists today.” Id. The opinion advocated for the middle
ground—abolishing the distinction between invitees and licensees, while
retaining the common-law rule regarding trespassers. Id. In reaching
this conclusion, the concurrence noted that “inherent in the trichotomy
is the notion that a jury could not be trusted to enter a just verdict.” Id.
at 82. This belief was out of sync with the whole of tort law where juries
are afforded considerable authority and discretion. Id.
The special concurrence further criticized the trichotomy as
inherently confusing, potentially leading to inequities. Though not at
issue in this case, the concurrence noted the routine difficulty in
determining an entrant’s status. Id. at 83 (citing Franconia Assocs. v.
Clark, 463 S.E.2d 670 (Va. 1995) (considering whether mall employee
lost status as an invitee by attempting to stop a robber); Lakeview
Assocs., Ltd. v. Maes, 907 P.2d 580 (Colo. 1995) (discussing whether
tenant, who paid rent but happened to not own a car, was invitee or
licensee when she fell while walking across the parking lot of an
apartment complex); Peterson v. Romine, 960 P.2d 1266 (Idaho 1998)
(considering whether plaintiff who parked in downtown parking lot
provided for shoppers, but who shopped at an adjacent but unaffiliated
store, was therefore not a business invitee when she was injured by
stepping into a pothole); and Gladon v. Greater Cleveland Reg’l Transit
Auth., 662 N.E.2d 287 (Ohio 1996) (questioning whether fare-paying
customer of subway system, who was assaulted and thrown by third
13
parties upon exiting train, was still invitee when left lying on tracks and
struck by train)).
Due to this potential for confusion, the Alexander special
concurrence asserted that abolishing the common-law formulation would
lead to more predictable results. And, contrary to critics, would not leave
the jury utterly standardless. The foreseeability of the visitor’s presence
and the time, manner, place, and surrounding circumstances of his
entry would continue to be relevant factors in determining whether the
landowner acted reasonably. Id. at 84. Abolishing the common-law
distinctions does not truly alter the underlying principles of premises
liability. Id. It simply prevents, according to the concurrence, an
entrant’s status as being the sole/primary factor. Id. Finally, the
concurrence noted that abolishing the distinctions would recognize “that
our modern social mores and humanitarian values place more
importance on human life than on property.” Id.
The premises liability issue returned to this court three years later
in Anderson v. State, 692 N.W.2d 360 (Iowa 2005). Anderson filed suit
against the State after she was injured leaving the University of Northern
Iowa library. Anderson, 692 N.W.2d at 361. Anderson claimed that the
State and its agents were negligent in not closing the library due to a
winter storm. Id. at 363. Once again the plaintiff objected to the use of
the stock instruction and claimed that the court should have
alternatively instructed the jury that the possessor of land must exercise
reasonable care under all the circumstances existing at the time and
place of the injury for the protection of lawful entrants. Id. at 367. The
district court overruled the objection. While this court noted the issue,
the majority opinion did not contain an analysis or exegesis on the
subject. Instead, the court merely noted that it was evenly divided on the
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jury instruction issue and affirmed the district court on that ground by
operation of law. Id.
This court last addressed the premises liability issue just three-
and-a-half years ago in Benham v. King, 700 N.W.2d 314 (Iowa 2005).
While visiting his dentist King in 2000, Benham was injured when the
dental chair suddenly collapsed and he fell against a sink and cabinet
located near the chair. Benham, 700 N.W.2d at 316. The case proceeded
to trial, where the district court granted King’s motion for directed verdict
concluding that there was no evidence that King should have known of
the defective condition of the chair which caused it to collapse. Id. at
317. This court determined that directed verdict was proper as Benham
failed to present evidence that King could have discovered the particular
defect that caused the injury through the exercise of reasonable care. Id.
at 320. Therefore, King did not breach his duty of care to Benham, an
invitee. Id. at 321.
While the court was unanimous as to result, this case once again
produced a lengthy special concurrence. Id. (Wiggins, J., specially
concurring). This special concurrence noted that:
A more logical approach to a premises liability case would be
to abandon the antiquated common-law dichotomy with its
contradictory and confusing rules and adopt the modern rule
requiring a possessor of land to exercise reasonable care
under all the circumstances existing at the time and place of
the injury for the protection of invitees and licensees.
Id. at 322.
D. Adoption of General Negligence Standard for Invitees and
Licensees. Taking into consideration the wealth of case law in our sister
jurisdictions, academic commentary, and the history of the common-law
distinctions, we now conclude that the advantages of abolishing the
15
distinction between invitees and licensees outweigh the value of its
retention.
The primary advantage of abolishing the invitee-licensee
distinction is to avoid confusion. While there is no issue in this case as
to Valerie’s status, properly categorizing an entrant’s status has proven a
dubious task in other cases. As noted previously, the Alexander special
concurrence is replete with examples of the difficulties appellate courts
have experienced in attempting to fit modern human interaction into
rigid categories developed three centuries ago. Such confusion is likely
to only increase in the future. See generally Matthew D. Lincoln, Note,
Landowners’ Duty to Guests of Invitees and Tenants: Vogt v. Murraywood
Swim & Racquet Club & Goode v. St. Stephens United Methodist
Church, 57 S.C. L. Rev. 387 (2005) (discussing South Carolina’s
difficulty in classifying the duty owed to guests of invitees or tenants vis-
à-vis the landowner).
Not only does this confusion provide ample grounds for appeal, it
also prevents the development of an easily applicable standard for future
cases. As a result, retention of the common-law system has not fulfilled
its goal of predictability, but rather has “produced confusion and
conflict.” Kermarec, 358 U.S. at 631, 79 S. Ct. at 410, 3 L. Ed. 2d at
555; Peterson, 199 N.W.2d at 643 (stating that “judges have been highly
critical of the common-law straitjacket of highly technical and arbitrary
classifications which have often led to confusion in the law and inequity
in the cases decided”).
The difficultly in distinguishing between invitees and licensees
underscores another disadvantage of the classification—people do not
alter their behavior based on an entrant’s status as an invitee or
16
licensee. Many courts have illustrated this distinction’s divorce from
reality. The West Virginia Supreme Court posed this hypothetical:
“A canvasser who comes on your premises without your
consent is a trespasser. Once he has your consent, he is a
licensee. Not until you do business with him is he an
invitee. Even when you have done business with him, it
seems rather strange that your duty towards him should be
different when he comes up to your door from what it is
when he goes away. Does he change his colour in the middle
of the conversation? What is the position when you discuss
business with him and it comes to nothing? No confident
answer can be given to these questions. Such is the morass
into which the law has floundered in trying to distinguish
between licensees and invitees.”
Mallet, 522 S.E.2d at 441 (quoting Mariorenzi, 333 A.2d at 133 n.4). The
fungible and unpredictable nature of the classifications makes it
impossible for landowners to conform their behavior to current
community standards. See also id. at 443 (“If we wish for our law to be
predictable, and we do, then we have a duty to shape it in such a way
that it meshes with the general, reasonable assumptions that people
make in their daily lives.”). It also makes it impossible for entrants to
understand to what level of danger or risk they are being exposed.
In addition, abandonment of the common-law distinction between
invitees and licensees is consistent with modern notions of tort law and
liability. When this distinction was adopted in the nineteenth century by
American courts, our tort law was replete with special rules and arguably
arbitrary common-law distinctions. Since that time, these doctrines,
such as contributory negligence, which often yielded inequitable results,
have fallen by the wayside in favor of comparative fault. “The use of a
general standard of reasonable care under all the circumstances . . . will
bring this area of the law into conformity with modern tort principles by
allowing increased jury participation and the use of contemporary
17
standards.” Sears, 44 U. Kan. L. Rev. at 184–85. Contrary to courts
that have upheld the trichotomy, there is nothing to fear about jury
involvement. As the North Carolina Supreme Court correctly points out,
this fear fails to take into account both the primacy of juries in other
areas of tort law and the reality that “modern jurors are more likely than
feudal jurors to be landowners themselves. . . .” Nelson, 507 S.E.2d at
888.
Moreover, both logic and almost forty years of practice suggest that
there is no reason to question a jury’s ability to perform in the area of
premises liability as opposed to any other area of tort law. See Heins,
552 N.W.2d at 57 (“We find no merit in the argument that the duty of
reasonable care is difficult for a fact finder to understand or apply,
because it has been used successfully with regard to invitees and is the
standard used in almost all other tort actions.”). The fear of a runaway,
standardless jury has not been substantiated in the jurisdictions that
have abolished the common-law distinction between invitees and
licensees. See generally Carl S. Hawkins, Premises Liability After
Repudiation of Status Categories: Allocation of Judge and Jury Functions,
1981 Utah L. Rev. 15 (concluding ordinary negligence principles have
constrained jury discretion in premises liability cases in jurisdictions
that abolished the classification system).
Finally, abandonment of this common-law distinction recognizes a
higher valuation of public safety over property rights.
“[T]he traditional rule confers on an occupier of land a
special privilege to be careless which is quite out of keeping
with the development of accident law generally and is no
more justifiable here than it would be in the case of any
other useful enterprise or activity.”
18
Antoniewicz, 236 N.W.2d at 8–9 (quoting 2 Fowler V. Harper & Fleming
James Jr., The Law of Torts § 27.3, at 1440 (1956)). This “special
privilege” is fundamentally no longer the public policy of this state. This
court has already implicitly recognized the harshness, rigidity, and
inequity of the common-law scheme by crafting exceptions for children
and known trespassers. “[M]odern times demand a recognition that
requiring all to exercise reasonable care for the safety of others is the
more humane approach.” Jones, 867 P.2d at 307.
The common-law distinction between invitees and licensees was
borne of a different time, a product of a different culture, and utilized by
a legal system far removed from today’s realities.
Life in these United States is no longer as simple as in the
frontier days of broad expanses and sparsely settled lands.
Inexorably our people, gregarious in nature, have magnetized
to limited and congested areas. With social change must
come change in the law, for as President Woodrow Wilson
observed, “The first duty of the law is to keep sound the
society it serves.”
Wood, 284 So. 2d at 696.
“When the reasons for the rule disappear, the rule ought to
disappear.” Alexander, 646 N.W.2d at 84 (Lavorato, C.J., specially
concurring); see also Funk v. United States, 290 U.S. 371, 383, 54 S. Ct.
212, 216, 78 L. Ed. 369, 376 (1933) (“It has been said so often as to have
become axiomatic that the common law is not immutable but flexible,
and by its own principles adapts itself to varying conditions.”). As the
reasons supporting the common-law distinction between invitees and
licensees no longer exist, we now abandon the distinction. 2
2The continued validity of the common-law approach to trespassers has not
been raised in this appeal. We thus express no opinion on the continued validity of
common-law doctrines involving trespassers.
19
In place of the common-law formulation, we adopt the multifactor
approach advanced by the Nebraska Supreme Court and adopted by the
Sheets court.
“We impose upon owners and occupiers only the duty to
exercise reasonable care in the maintenance of their
premises for the protection of lawful visitors. Among the
factors to be considered in evaluating whether a landowner
or occupier has exercised reasonable care for the protection
of lawful visitors will be: (1) the foreseeability or possibility of
harm; (2) the purpose for which the entrant entered the
premises; (3) the time, manner, and circumstances under
which the entrant entered the premises; (4) the use to which
the premises are put or are expected to be put; (5) the
reasonableness of the inspection, repair, or warning; (6) the
opportunity and ease of repair or correction or giving of the
warning; and (7) the burden on the land occupier and/or
community in terms of inconvenience or cost in providing
adequate protection.”
Sheets, 581 N.W.2d at 606 (quoting Heins, 552 N.W.2d at 57).
This multifactored approach will ensure that the interests of land
owners and injured parties are properly balanced. It further allows the
jury to take into consideration common sense notions of reasonable care
in assessing liability. By adopting this test, we eliminate an arcane and
difficult-to-understand distinction from our law and make it simpler and
more easily understood.
As a result of our holding abandoning the distinction between
invitees and licensees in premises liability cases, it follows that the
instruction given by the district court in this case was erroneous.
Further, unlike in Sheets, we find the error in the instruction to be
material, requiring reversal. With respect to subparagraph 3, Instruction
No. 10 improperly shifted the burden of proof from the defendant to the
plaintiff by requiring the plaintiff to prove that she “did not know or have
reason to know of the condition and the risk involved.” Such an
instruction is a holdover from the bygone era of contributory negligence,
20
and directly contradictory to the defendant’s requested instruction on
comparative fault. An instruction that improperly states the burden of
proof is a material error demanding reversal. See Kaspar, 237 N.W.2d at
417 (finding instructions that deal with the burden of proof to be “at the
core of and central to the proper disposition and consideration by the
jury” so as to merit a finding of categorical error).
On remand, the district court should develop a more direct, simple
instruction consistent with our adoption of the multipronged test to
guide the jury in its deliberations.
IV. Conclusion.
The district court’s ruling on the motion for new trial is reversed,
the judgment vacated, and the matter remanded for a new trial using a
general negligence instruction to define the scope of duty owed by the
defendant in this case.
REVERSED.
All justices concur except Streit, J., who concurs specially.
21
Koenig, #19/07–1586
STREIT, Justice (specially concurring).
The majority takes a much-needed step away from the premises
liability trichotomy, but needlessly leaves standing one leg of a three-
legged stool. This wobbly paradigm should also be given a gentle nudge
over the cliff. We should completely abolish the classification system,
saving no remnant. Alexander v. Med. Assocs. Clinic, 646 N.W.2d 74, 86
(Iowa 2002) (Streit, J., concurring specially); Rowland v. Christian, 443
P.2d 561, 568–69 (Cal. 1968), abrogated in part by statute as stated in
Calvillo-Silva v. Home Grocery, 968 P.2d 65, 72 (Cal. 1998).