Constructive Notice

The Appellate Court ruled to uphold constructive notice precedent in a recent case titled Tafoya-Cruz v. Temperance Beer Co., 2020 IL App (1^st). The case brought by plaintiff Jorge Tafoya-Cruz alleges a slip and fall in the bathroom at Temperance Brewing Company in Evanston, Illinois. A summary judgment was entered in favor of Temperance Brewing Company as the court was left to assume the substance found on the bathroom floor and the length of time it had existed, if at all.

Not all slip and fall cases are created equal, and these cases can be extremely difficult to prosecute as evidence needs to be presented which definitively shows negligence on the part of the defendant. In the case of Tafoya-Cruz the plaintiff failed to provide evidence that Temperance Brewing Company had any knowledge of the fact that a substance was on the floor or who caused the substance to be there in the first place. The plaintiff could not even identify or describe the substance on the floor. Additionally, he and witnesses on behalf of the defendant all indicated the plaintiff was intoxicated and had several beers before arriving to the bar.

The full Appellate Court opinion which can be read here contains plaintiff and witness testimony from the night of the incident.