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n. a person who comes onto another's property, premises or business establishment upon invitation. The invitation may be direct and express or "implied," as when a shop is open and the public is expected to enter to inspect, purchase or otherwise do business on the premises. It may be legally important, because an invitee is entitled to assume safe conditions on the property or premises, so the owner or proprietor might be liable for any injury suffered by the invitee while on the property due to an unsafe condition which is not obvious to the invitee (a latent defect) and not due to the invitee's own negligence. An invitee is distinguished from a trespasser who cuts across the owner's vacant lot, a person who comes into the store to use the bathroom (although a clever lawyer will claim this is a goodwill aspect to the business in which the public is implicitly invited), or a burglar who falls through a faulty skylight. Examples of failures unexpected by an invitee: a person falls through a covered-over well, faulty stairs, weak floors, slippery floors on rainy days (a favorite), spills of jam which are not promptly cleaned up although known to the management, lack of adequate security guards to protect against muggers, and various careless acts of retail employees.