“The board’s failure to ‘furnish’ the scaffold cannot be a proximate cause of the injuries, for the scaffold was ‘furnished’ and available, though it was not implemented for the task. *** The scaffold was on the premises and, assuming the failure to use it was a proximate cause of plaintiffs injuries, that failure *** arose out of the student-teacher relationship”
How later courts described this case
- “The board’s failure to ‘furnish’ the scaffold cannot be a proximate cause of the injuries, for the scaffold was ‘furnished’ and available, though it was not implemented for the task. *** The scaffold was on the premises and, assuming the failure to use it was a proximate cause of plaintiffs injuries, that failure *** arose out of the student-teacher relationship”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
JUSTICE EASSERMAN, dissenting:
I respectfully dissent.
As the majority recognizes, a school district may be held liable in ordinary negligence for providing equipment which is known, or should have been known, to be defective or dangerous. (Gerrity v. Beatty (1978), 71 Ill. 2d 47, 52 , 373 N.E.2d 1323, 1326 .) Evidence admitted at trial established that: (1) it was necessary to climb approximately 15 feet in order to install letters on the scoreboard; (2) the letters were individually installed on the scoreboard and were ordinarily carried up to the scoreboard in the pockets of the person installing them; (3) although the school possessed a portable scaffold with a platform and an upper rail, the scaffold was inconveniently located in a storage shed; and (4) plaintiff had a history of epilepsy of which the school district was aware. Since a jury properly could have found that the administrators of the school knew or should have known of the possible danger of installing individual letters on a lofty scoreboard while on a ladder, the jury properly could have found that the school board was guilty of a breach of its duty of ordinary care by failing to direct that the scaffold be placed in an accessible location. This is particularly true in view of plaintiff’s known history of epilepsy.
After viewing the evidence in light most favorable to plaintiff, I must conclude that the entry of a judgment n.o.v. as to count I of plaintiff’s complaint was improper. I would therefore reverse the judgment of the trial court and reinstate the verdict.