Cretella v. Azcon, Inc.

Plaintiff filed suit against her former employer alleging retaliatory discharge and violation of section 20 of the Whistleblower Act. The retaliatory discharge claims were based on the tort and implied private right of action under section 224.1 of the Illinois Insurance Code because plaintiff refused to consent to defendant purchasing insurance coverage on her life and receiving the proceeds on the event of her death. The circuit court granted defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a cause of action. The appellate court affirmed the judgment of the circuit court that granted defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s common law retaliatory discharge claim; however, the court reversed the trial court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s implied private right of action for retaliatory discharge under section 224.1 of the Insurance Code because a private right of action was both consistent with the underlying purpose of the statute and necessary to provide an adequate remedy for violations of section 224.1. (DAUGHERITY and SCHMIDT, concurring)