Find Court Cases > Go Back to List > Eshoo v. CTA

Eshoo v. CTA

Case Date: 12/22/1999
Court: 1st District Appellate
Docket No: 1-97-1138

Eshoo v. CTA, No. 1-97-1138

1st District, December 22, 1999

THIRD DIVISION

JOHN AND BERNICE ESHOO, Indiv. and as Special Admr's of the Estate of Taylor Eshoo, Deceased,

Plaintiffs-Appellees,

v.

CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY,

Defendant-Appellant.

 Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County

No. 92 L 7775

Honorable, Judge Leonard R. Grazian Presiding.

PRESIDING JUSTICE CAHILL delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiffs filed a two-count complaint against the Chicago Transit Authority (the CTA) in response to an electrocution at the CTA Morse Avenue transit station in Chicago. The complaint alleged negligence in count I and willful and wanton conduct in count II. Plaintiffs dismissed the willful and wanton count before the case went to the jury in response to a trial court ruling that decedent was an invitee as a matter of law. The trial court found, as a matter of law, that Taylor Eshoo was an invitee to whom the CTA owed a duty of ordinary care. The jury was so instructed. The court refused to instruct the jury on a standard of care defined in Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions, Civil, No. 120.02.01 (3d ed. 1995) (hereinafter IPI Civil 3d), which sets out the duty generally owed to an invitee and to a trespasser and an exception to the duty owed to a trespasser when a dangerous condition on the defendant's property presents a risk of death or serious bodily harm. The jury found for plaintiffs. The CTA's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict was denied. The CTA appeals. We reverse and remand with directions.

Plaintiffs' son, Taylor Eshoo, was electrocuted on June 27, 1991, when he came in contact with an electrified "third" rail at the CTA Morse Avenue station. The Morse Avenue station is on the Howard line, now known as the Howard/Dan Ryan or "red" line. According to testimony, Taylor and three friends, Michael Rosengrant, Peter Anthos and Kenneth Boch, had just accompanied Justin Long, another friend, to Morse Avenue. Long then went home. The four boys bought tickets and waited on the Morse Avenue platform for a southbound train. They planned to ride the train into the Loop, then take an O'Hare train to Harlem Avenue, near where they lived.

Taylor left the platform to urinate while his friends waited for the train. He was killed when he came into contact with the "third" rail. The rail carries 600 volts of electric current.

The Morse Avenue platform sits between and serves two sets of tracks, one heading north, the other south. The platform is about one block long and raised about 4