Mason v. Ashland Exploration, Inc.’s Empirical Analysis
965 F.2d 1421 · 1992
Citation profile
10 federal appellate · 3 district · 4 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Salve Regina College v. Russell · 136 Ill. 2d 132 - Ward v. K Mart Corp. · 74 Ill. 2d 203 - Hunt v. Blasius · McKnight v. General Motors Corp. · 138 Ill. 2d 510 - Lamkin v. Towner
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 27 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“There are ... cases in which the possessor of land can and should anticipate that the dangerous condition will cause physical harm to the invitee notwithstanding its known or obvious danger. In such cases the possessor is not relieved of the duty of reasonable care which he owes to the invitee for his protection. This duty may require him to warn the invitee, or to take other reasonable steps to protect him, against the known or obvious condition or activity, if the possessor has reason to expect that the invitee will nevertheless suffer physical harm. Such reason to expect harm to the visitor from known or obvious dangers may arise, for example, when the possessor has reason to expect that the invitee’s attention may be distracted, so that he will not discover what is obvious, or will forget what he has discovered, or fail to protect himself against it. Such reason may also arise where the possessor has reason to expect that the invitee will proceed to encounter the known or obvious danger because to a reasonable man in his position the advantages of doing'so would outweigh the apparent risk. In such cases the fact that the danger is known, or is obvious, is important in determining whether the invitee is to be charged with contributory negligence, or assumption of risk. [Citation.] It is not, however, conclusive in determining the duty of the possessor, or whether he has acted reasonably under the circumstances.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“where the risk of injury is open and obvious as a matter of common knowledge and perception, the product cannot be deemed unreasonably dangerous or defective in the first instance so as to establish a breach of duty against which any liability could attach. Injuries are not compensable ... if they are caused by those inherent properties of a product which are obvious to all who come into contact with them.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.