Justices focus on Restatement of Torts caveat

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted July 23, 2021 12:06 PM

A 1986 Illinois Supreme Court case about a 5-year-old who found a pellet gun when visiting his grandparents and shot a playmate in the eye didn’t have to answer a lingering question about the liability of possessors of land under Section 318 of the Restatement (2nd) of Torts. But in a new case about a grandson with a gun, a dissenting justice on the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals accused the majority of weakening Sect. 318’s “presence” requirement by sub silentio adopting a suggestion from the …

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