Ordman v. Dacon Management Corp

In Ordman v. Dacon Management Corp., 261 Ill. App. 3d 275, 633 N.E.2d 1307, 199 Ill. Dec. 316 (1994), plaintiff filed suit alleging the plaintiff's decedent died as a result of slipping and falling on an unnatural accumulation of ice on defendant's property. The issue in Ordman, however, was not whether defendant's negligence proximately caused the injury, but whether defendant voluntarily undertook a duty to remove ice and snow. When reversing the motion for summary judgment ordered by the trial court, the Ordman court found the defendant did owe the plaintiff a duty of care. When discussing the cause of the fall, the court noted there were no other possible explanations to why the decedent fell with the exception of this large patch of ice. Additionally, the court explained that the issue of proximate cause was not raised at the circuit court level and thus was not fully litigated in this case. Ordman, 261 Ill. App. 3d at 283.