Smith v. Smith

MINTON, C.J., DISSENTING:

Today the Court chooses to retain status-based distinctions for entrants to land *20in assessing landowner liability and, in so doing, has further distanced itself from a concept of modern tort law that nearly half of the states have adopted in some form. Because I would instead abandon the distinction between licensees and invitees in favor of a unitary duty of reasonable care owed to all non-trespassing entrants, I respectfully dissent.

The common-law distinctions have faced heavy criticism by American courts, beginning with the United States Supreme Court's decision in…