Whelan v. Van Natta

After buying cigarettes, a customer asked a grocery-store cashier (defendant) for extra boxes, and the cashier directed him to the store's backroom; the customer entered the dark backroom and fell down an unseen staircase. He sued for negligence as an invitee, but the trial court found he was only a licensee at the time of injury, and he appealed.

Whether a store customer remains an invitee when he enters the store's nonpublic backroom on a personal errand unrelated to shopping.