Subject Index Tort Law

Absolute immunity for failure to provide adequate police protection

January
2024
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On Nov. 1, 2023, the Third District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act provides absolute immunity for the failure to provide adequate police protection.

Prejudgment interest statute does not violate the Illinois Constitution

October
2023
Illinois Law Update
, Page 14
On July 14, 2023, the Fourth District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a statute allowing for prejudgment interest does not violate the Illinois Constitution.

Unnecessary Roughness

By Eldon L. Ham
July
2023
Article
, Page 28
Sports injuries and assumption of the risk. What’s fair? What’s foul?
1 comment (Most recent August 7, 2023)

A dissolved corporation not originally named as a defendant is not precluded from being added as a defendant five years after dissolution

June
2023
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On March 23, 2023, the Third District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that a dissolved corporation not originally named as a defendant in a lawsuit is not precluded from being added after the five-year postdissolution period expires, under section 12.80 of the Business Corporation Act of 1983 (Act).

Trial court committed reversible error by denying the defendant’s motion to amend its answer to include a new affirmative defense

April
2023
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On Jan. 10, 2023, the Second District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that refusal to allow a bar to amend an answer to include an affirmative defense constituted an abuse of discretion.

When a Frozen Egg or Pre-embryo Is Negligently Lost or Destroyed

By Whitney L. Barr
April
2023
Article
, Page 34
The intersection of assisted reproductive technologies and tort law.

Police officer was not engaged in police protection service when involved in fatal physical altercation with detainee in hospital room

February
2023
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On Oct. 28, 2022, the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court reversed a grant of summary judgment where the court found disputed issues as to a police officer’s entitlement of civil immunity under the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (“Act”).

No duty of care owed by rooming house owners to a renter who was attacked by fellow renter with a knife

December
2022
Illinois Law Update
, Page 12
On Sept. 7, 2022, the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that owners of a rooming house did not owe a duty of care to a renter who was attacked by a fellow renter in a shared area of the rooming house.

No duty of care owed by the Chicago Transit Authority to trespasser who was struck and killed by train after falling from personnel-only area

December
2022
Illinois Law Update
, Page 12
On Sept. 22, 2022, the Illinois Supreme Court held that the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) did not owe a duty of care to a trespasser struck by one of its trains.

Open-and-obvious doctrine does not apply unless the injury is caused by a condition on the land

October
2022
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On July 15, 2022, the Fourth District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that the open-and-obvious doctrine only applies when a condition on the land causes a plaintiff’s injury.

Navigating Illinois’ New Prejudgment Interest Statute

By Michael Adler
September
2022
Article
, Page 26
This summer, Illinois enacted prejudgment interest for personal injury and wrongful death cases. Here’s what you need to know.

No duty of care owed to child who broke wrist after riding a bike over a sinkhole on a residential street

September
2022
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On June 16, 2022, the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that the Village of Lincolnwood owed no duty of care to bicyclists on residential streets under the Tort Immunity Act.

Intoxicated Passengers and Common Carriers

By Gerald T. Donoghue
August
2022
Article
, Page 36
Do common carriers owe a duty of additional care to intoxicated passengers?

Physical fitness center has a duty to use defibrillator when patron suffers cardiac event at facility

August
2022
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On May 19, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the Illinois Appellate Court’s decision imposing a legal duty on a fitness center to use an automated external defibrillator (AED) on patrons suffering a cardiac event.

Tort Immunity Act requires officers to have direct restriction or control of movement to satisfy “prisoner” for absolute immunity

July
2022
Illinois Law Update
, Page 14
On April 21, the Illinois Supreme Court held that police officers and their municipal employers did not have immunity under the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act because the individual chased by the officer was not an escaped or escaping prisoner.

It’s Tough to Be Ford

By Grant A. Bosnich
April
2022
Article
, Page 40
The 2021 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Ford Motor Company and its sprouting Illinois caselaw clarifying the “arising from” prong of specific personal jurisdiction.

Counter Measures

By Scott O. Reed
December
2021
Article
, Page 28
There are exceptions to the rule against admissibility of subsequent remedial measures besides proving ownership or control, showing feasibility of alternative design, or to impeach.

Plaintiff’s injury after crossing a dangerous service path was not city’s fault when a safer alternative existed

November
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
On Aug. 9, 2021, the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed a circuit court’s judgment that the City of Chicago did not owe a duty to the plaintiff to maintain a service path.

The Tort Immunity Act’s blanket protection is not constrained by the Emergency Telephone System Act

March
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 18
On Dec. 9, 2020, the Fifth District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that the Tort Immunity Act provides comprehensive immunity to 911 dispatchers and local governments that recklessly fail to provide police service.

Public property merely incidental to a recreational facility is not itself per se recreational for purposes of the Tort Immunity Act

January
2021
Illinois Law Update
, Page 14
On Oct. 6, 2020, the Third District of the Illinois Appellate Court held that closing a public street for a recreational event a few days a year may not be enough to alter the street’s character under the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act.

Class barred from recovering cost of mandatory lead screening under conspiracy claim 

August
2020
Illinois Law Update
, Page 14
On May 21, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court by holding that plaintiffs who do not suffer an economic loss cannot maintain a tort action based on a claim that solely alleges an economic injury.

Will the Real Independent Contractor Please Stand Up?

By Gregory R. Jones
July
2020
Article
, Page 44
Examining the concept of retained control.

Can Asbestos Ever Be Mitigated From Illinois Courts?

By Craig T. Liljestrand
March
2020
Article
, Page 42
For personal jurisdiction and asbestos litigation, recent rulings may illuminate asbestos’ pathway out of the Land of Lincoln.

Municipal defendant not immune from liability when acts leading to injury did not result from discretionary or policy decisions of employees 

March
2020
Illinois Law Update
, Page 20
The Illinois Supreme Court considered the issue of whether a defendant sufficiently established immunity under the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act.

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

By Arlo Walsman
February
2020
Article
, Page 34
The Illinois Supreme Court clarifies the law regarding the admissibility of photographs of vehicles after accidents in personal injury cases.

Court correct in barring reduced medical treatment testimony and issuing punitive-damage award

December
2019
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
Plaintiffs were awarded $19.155 million, plus $35 million in punitive damages, following a jury trial for injuries sustained in a rear-ender vehicular accident in Indiana.

Tort Immunity Act does not apply to city board of education’s failure to communicate risk of violence to event host where student was shot

December
2019
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
The plaintiff filed a wrongful death and survival action after her 17-year-old son was fatally shot in the parking lot of a university’s arena after a high school basketball game there.

Plaintiff must be legally parked to be an “intended user” of the street

July
2019
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
A plaintiff suing the City of Chicago was denied recovery for injuries she suffered for falling into a five-foot-long pothole. Because she parked the back one-third of her car in a no-parking zone, she was not an “intended and permitted user” of the street.

GE May Bring Good Things to Life, but It Does Not Bring Personal Jurisdiction in Illinois

By Eric J. Muñoz
April
2019
Article
, Page 40
Attorneys would be well-served to appreciate the implications of an important legal trend in personal jurisdiction caselaw and be prepared to incorporate these developments into their practice.

Plaintiff failed to provide evidence that faulty gutter caused icicles and ice to form

January
2019
Illinois Law Update
, Page 16
In order to sustain a premises liability lawsuit based upon an unnatural accumulation of ice, a plaintiff must provide evidence that the condition was caused by the defendant and that the defendant knew of the dangerous condition.

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