Comparative Negligence Case

Illinois has adopted modified comparative negligence. Under this scheme, an injured party may recover damages only if she is fifty percent or less at fault for her injury. The recovered amount, however, may be reduced in proportion to the plaintiff’s degree of fault. A finding that the plaintiff was more than fifty percent at fault results in a defense verdict and the plaintiff will be barred from recovery.

Additionally, Zubairi is the owner of the building. The lease contract states that Zubairi is responsible for maintenance of the building apart from the pub itself. The insured was responsible for maintenance of the pub. It does not appear that there is any discrepancy about the responsibility for the maintenance of the light fixture. Mr. Ashiku replaces the bulb in the fixture above the stairs when necessary and Mr. Zubairi would be responsible for replacing the fixture itself if it was required. According to Mr. Ashiku, the fixture was working and had a functional bulb in it on the night of the occurrence. The bartender recalls that bugs were swarming around the light fixture when she went out to check on the plaintiff. …show more content…
Even though we expect that plaintiff will dispute this, the village’s light towers illuminated the stairs at the time of the incident in such a manner as to defeat the theory that the stairs were too dark. We do not yet know whether Plaintiff’s counsel will change course and claim some type of defect with the stairs. (We did discover that Plaintiff’s counsel has retained an expert to inspect the stairs.)