Elston v. County of Kane

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff’s action under Illinois Tort Immunity Act (ITIA), seeking to have defendant pay $110,000 default judgment that plaintiff had obtained on police officer employed by defendant arising out of incident in which officer was off-duty in different County and was watching his daughter play soccer game when officer engaged in physical confrontation with plaintiff, while displaying his badge and gun and while making attempts to place plaintiff under arrest. Dist. Ct. could properly find that: (1) officer was not acting within scope of his employment at time of his encounter with plaintiff as required for purposes of imposing liability on defendant under ITIA, where record showed that officer was off duty with his family in County where he was unauthorized to act as Sheriff’s deputy; and (2) plaintiff’s conduct did not advance any valid goal of his employer.