Heiden v. Village of Westmont

Plaintiff filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of decedent, who died while working for the defendant village. The trial court granted defendant’s motion to dismiss based on the exclusivity provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act and plaintiff appealed. The appellate court reversed and remanded, finding that the allegations contained within the complaint contained sufficient inferences of intentional conduct that the defendant knew would lead to injury, placing the lawsuit outside of the exclusivity provisions of the Act. The appellate court also rejected defendant’s argument that it was immune under the Tort Immunity Act. (BERTANI, concurring and HETTEL, dissenting)