Hinch Law

As I write this post, Central Illinois is having a severe ice storm on the heals of a very wet Christmas.  Thus I read with interest today the First District Illinois Appellate Court's recent decision in Murphy-Hylton v. Lieberman Management Services, Inc. , as to the scope of the Snow and Ice Removal Act and "natural accumulation." At Illinois common law, a landowner has no duty to remove natural accumulations of snow, but can have a duty to remove unnatural accumulations, and if undertaking to remove snow, can incur liability if done negligently.  The Act changed the common law to provide immunity for injuries sustained by a person as a result of attempts to clear snow or ice, albeit negligently.   In Murphy-Hylton , the plaintiff apparently injured herself by slipping on a patch of ice on an otherwise clear sidewalk.  Her complaint did not allege negligent removal of snow or ice.  Instead, the plaintiff argued that her injury was caused by the defend...

I just  posted  a few days ago about the Illinois implied warranty of habitability and the recent case of  Fatah v. Bim , which found that contractors can be liable for a claim of warranty breach by a subsequent homeowner, not the initial buyer, even when the initial buyer signed a waiver with the builder.   The implied warranty is again  in the news  today, for a  second Illinois appellate case , this time about whether the warranty extends to architects for alleged design flaws.  The court held that the warranty addresses the construction itself, not design, and therefore found the warranty did not extend to the architect.   The case is also significant for the court's consideration of warranty disclaimer language in the contracts signed by the buyers, as to potential liability of the developer and other defendants.  The court found the disclaimer, which was in all caps, was sufficiently conspicuous as a matter of law, and that th...