Anthony v. City of Chicago

888 N.E.2d 721, 382 Ill. App. 3d 983
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 16, 2008
Docket1-05-1954
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 888 N.E.2d 721 (Anthony v. City of Chicago) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anthony v. City of Chicago, 888 N.E.2d 721, 382 Ill. App. 3d 983 (Ill. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

JUSTICE O’MARA FROSSARD

delivered the opinion of the court:

This case appears before us on interlocutory appeal pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 308 (155 Ill. 2d R. 308) to consider the questions certified by the circuit court.

As a result of a disturbance in February 2003 on the second floor of a nightclub and the ensuing pileup in the stairwell as patrons attempted to flee the nightclub, plaintiffs Jesse Anthony, as special administrator of the estate of Nita Anthony, deceased, et al., filed the underlying consolidated wrongful death and personal injury actions against multiple defendants, including the nightclub’s owners, operators, security providers and personnel, and the City of Chicago (City). The circuit court denied the City’s subsequent motion to dismiss the complaint; however, it certified the following three questions for review on interlocutory appeal:

(1) Do allegations that the City, a municipality, engaged in conduct that was willful and wanton in failing to enforce laws or court orders or in failing to rescue, as set forth in plaintiffs’ master complaints, create a duty to persons allegedly injured by the failure to enforce the laws or court orders and the failure to rescue?
(2) Does section 2 — 202 of the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (Act) (745 ILCS 10/2 — 202 (West 2006)) constitute an exception to the absolute immunity for failure to enforce any law under section 2 — 103 of the Act (745 ILCS 10/2 — 103 (West 2006)), or to the absolute immunity for failure to provide adequate police protection or police service under section 4 — 102 of the Act (745 ILCS 10/4 — 102 (West 2006))?
(3) Do codefendants’ violations of public safety laws and court orders constitute an intervening cause that breaks the causal chain between the City’s failure to enforce laws or court orders and plaintiffs’ injuries in this case?

For the reasons that follow, we answer the second certified question in the negative. We find it unnecessary to answer the first and third certified questions because our answer to the second certified question is dispositive of the first and third questions.

BACKGROUND

In May 2002, the City filed a complaint against the building owners of the property located at 2347 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, where the Epitome Restaurant and Nightclub, d/b/a E2 Nightclub (Club), was located. The City, through the commissioner of the department of buildings and based upon reports from department inspectors, determined the building was unsafe. The complaint cited the building owners for failure to provide adequate exits for patrons on the ground level and failure to provide sufficient exits for patrons on the second floor.

On July 19, 2002, the circuit court entered an order prohibiting occupancy of the Club’s second floor. That order was reentered by the court on August 9, 2002, September 6, 2002, and October 25, 2002.

On February 17, 2003, hundreds of patrons were at the Club when a disturbance broke out on the second floor. During the disturbance, security guards used mace or pepper spray, which prompted many patrons to attempt to flee. A crowd of patrons packed into a stairwell, and many of them were injured or killed during the ensuing pileup.

Over 20 decedents’ estates filed wrongful death actions and over 30 of the injured patrons brought personal injury actions against the defendants. The trial court consolidated those actions and directed plaintiffs to draft two master complaints, one for wrongful death and one for personal injury.

In relevant part, the plaintiffs claimed that the City’s acts or omissions regarding the continued operation of the Club and failure to extricate trapped patrons constituted willful and wanton conduct, thereby violating the City’s duty to them. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that the City had actual notice and knowledge that the Club posed an immediate hazard to patrons, was structurally unsafe, lacked adequate exits, and operated in violation of occupancy limits, municipal ordinances and court orders. Plaintiffs alleged that, despite such knowledge, the City allowed an excessive number of people to enter and gather in the building, allowed the Club to openly operate, and undertook the police duty of crowd control but failed to timely and properly extricate patrons trapped in the stairwell.

In response, the City filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to sections 2 — 615 and 2 — 619 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2 — 615, 2 — 619 (West 2006)), arguing that, under the public duty rule, it owed no duty of care to individual members of the public to provide governmental services, including police and fire protection. In the alternative, the City argued it was immune from liability pursuant to the Act (745 ILCS 10/1 — 101 et seq. (West 2006)). Specifically and relevant to this appeal, the City relied upon: (1) section 2 — 103 of the Act, which immunizes local public entities from liability for injuries caused by failing to enforce a law; and (2) section 4 — 102 of the Act, which immunizes local public entities from liability for failing to provide adequate police protection or service. The City also argued that the conduct of the Club’s owners and operators, not the conduct of the City, was the proximate cause of plaintiffs’ injuries and the decedents’ deaths.

The circuit court denied the City’s motion to dismiss. Concerning the public duty rule, the court ruled that a statutorily created exception to the public duty rule subjects municipalities to a duty to persons injured by willful and wanton conduct in the enforcement and execution of laws. The court found that plaintiffs’ allegations could constitute a basis to find that the City engaged in willful and wanton conduct in the execution and enforcement of laws and, thus, subject the City to a duty. Specifically, the court reasoned that the alleged actions of the police officers who responded to the scene and the City’s action initiating housing court proceedings could be construed as enforcing and executing laws.

Concerning immunity under the Act, the court found that section 2 — 202 of the Act, which immunizes acts or omissions in the enforcement of laws but contains an exception for willful and wanton conduct, prevailed over sections 4 — 102 and 2 — 103 of the Act, which immunize both negligent and willful and wanton conduct. Applying section 2 — 202, the court concluded that the City was not immune from liability for plaintiffs’ claims that the City engaged in willful and wanton conduct in the execution and enforcement of laws and providing police protection.

Concerning proximate cause, the court found that plaintiffs’ injuries were foreseeable under the circumstances alleged and, thus, concluded that there was a question of fact regarding whether the City’s conduct was a proximate cause of those injuries.

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Bluebook (online)
888 N.E.2d 721, 382 Ill. App. 3d 983, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anthony-v-city-of-chicago-illappct-2008.