## Facts

- Ella O’Callaghan rented an apartment in a large building owned and operated by Waller & Beckwith Realty Co.
- She fell and was injured while crossing the building’s paved courtyard from the garage to her apartment.
- She alleged the fall was caused by defective courtyard pavement and sued the landlord for negligent maintenance and operation of the premises.
- Before trial, she died; her administratrix, Virginia O’Callaghan, was substituted as plaintiff.
- The lease contained an exculpatory clause purporting to relieve the landlord and its agents from liability to the tenant for personal injuries or property damage caused by the landlord’s acts or neglect.
- A jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff for $14,000, and judgment was entered on the verdict.

## Issues

1. Whether a residential lease clause releasing a landlord from liability for its own negligence causing personal injury to a tenant is enforceable under Illinois law.
2. Whether such a clause is void as against public policy or because the landlord-tenant relationship and relative bargaining power make enforcement improper.

## Decision

- The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court’s judgment for the landlord.
- The court held the exculpatory clause was valid and enforceable and barred the tenant’s negligence action.
- Because the clause plainly covered injuries caused by the landlord’s negligence, judgment was required for the defendant notwithstanding the jury’s verdict for the plaintiff.

## Legal Principles

- Contract provisions exculpating a party from the consequences of its own negligence are generally enforceable unless (1) enforcement violates the state’s settled public policy, or (2) the parties’ social relationship makes enforcement improper.
- Absent a clear legislative prohibition or a clearly established contrary public policy, courts will not invalidate residential lease exculpatory clauses solely on generalized assertions of housing conditions or bargaining disparity.
- A landlord-tenant relationship, treated as a private contractual relationship on the record presented, does not by itself establish the type of compelled contracting associated with public-service relationships that commonly defeat exculpatory clauses.
- When an exculpatory clause unambiguously covers the claimed negligent conduct and is enforceable, it operates as a complete bar to the tenant’s recovery for personal injuries.

## Conclusion

The court enforced the residential lease’s exculpatory clause and held it barred the tenant’s negligence claim for injuries allegedly caused by defective common-area pavement, rejecting arguments that the clause was void on public-policy or bargaining-power grounds absent a settled policy or legislative action.


O'Callaghan v. Waller & Beckwith Realty Co., 15 Ill. 2d 436, 155 N.E.2d 545 (Ill. 1958)