Duty of Care for Business Proprietor
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The proprietor of a business establishment owes a duty of care to customers
and invitees when they come upon the business premises at the proprietor's
express or implied invitation.
The business premises include property
owned, possessed or controlled by the proprietor.
This duty of care
requires the proprietor to exercise reasonable care to discover whether
accidental, negligent or intentionally harmful acts of third persons are
occurring or are likely to occur on the business premises. If a proprietor
knows, or should know that these types of acts are occurring or are likely
to occur, the proprietor has the following duties to the customer or
invitee:
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Provide a warning adequate to enable the visitor to avoid the
harm, or otherwise to protect the visitor against the harm; |
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Take reasonable, relatively simple, and minimally burdensome
steps to avert the danger; and |
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Provide guards to protect the safety of patrons. |
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A warning will not be adequate when it is apparent that because of a lack of
time or the character of the conduct to be expected, it will not be
effective to give protection.
A failure by the proprietor to perform
a duty of care is negligence.
The proprietor does not have a duty to
control the misconduct of third persons which the proprietor has no reason
to anticipate, or no reasonable opportunity or means to prevent, or which
occurs on the property neither owned, possessed nor controlled by the
proprietor.