BURGER KING CASE GOES TO ILLINOIS SUPREME COURT

The Illinois Supreme Court will decide if a fast food restuarant has a duty to build barricades around those parts of the restuarant near the parking area. On January 12, 2006, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments growing out of a tragic incident at a Rockford Burger King in 2001. At that time Detroy Marshall II, a patron seated in the restuarant dining area, was killed when a driver lost control of her car in the Burger King parking lot, and crashed into the building. Marshall was crushed by the car. The case had been thrown out at the trial level, but reinstated on appeal. Marshall's attorneys argue that it is reasonable to hold Burger King liable because it should anticipate that cars will have sudden mechanical problems in the parking lot, causing contact with the restuarant structure. The defense response is that this particular circumstance was impossible to anticipate or prevent. A group of businesses filed a "friend of the court" brief in which they argued that holding Burger King liable would alter the business landscape of Illinois by requiring business owners to erect barriers on their property to prevent similar occurrences. My prediction? The Court holds that Burger King does not have any duty to install barricades to protect their customers.