Lietsch v. Allen

527 N.E.2d 978, 173 Ill. App. 3d 516, 123 Ill. Dec. 340, 1988 Ill. App. LEXIS 1199
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 3, 1988
Docket3-87-0668
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 527 N.E.2d 978 (Lietsch v. Allen) 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
Lietsch v. Allen, 527 N.E.2d 978, 173 Ill. App. 3d 516, 123 Ill. Dec. 340, 1988 Ill. App. LEXIS 1199 (Ill. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinions

JUSTICE WOMBACHER

delivered the opinion of the court:

This case comes before this court as a permissive interlocutory appeal pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 308 (107 Ill. 2d R. 308) and concerns the application of the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (Tort Immunity Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 85, par. 1 — 101 et seq.) and the Contribution Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 70, pars. 301 through 305) to a municipality.

Plaintiff, Peggy Lietsch, a Galesburg police officer, was directing traffic when a vehicle driven by defendant, Amanda Allen, struck and injured her. Amanda allegedly drove the wrong way and entered a closed intersection pursuant to instructions she received from another police officer. Initially, Peggy sued Amanda for negligence; then Amanda impleaded the City of Galesburg seeking contribution for allegedly:

“(a) Failing to furnish or require the wearing of safety clothing to warn traffic ***
(b) Failing to keep a proper lookout for vehicles approaching from the left ***.”

Galesburg defended by claiming it is protected by sections 2 — 201 (municipality immunity from suit for discretionary/policy determinations), 2 — 202 (liability only for willful and wanton negligence), and 2 — 109 (no vicarious municipality liability) of the Tort Immunity Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 85, pars. 2 — 201, 2 — 202, 2 — 109), with which Amanda disagreed.

On February 24, 1987, Galesburg answered the amended third-party complaint and asserted affirmative defenses based on the Tort Immunity Act following the denial of its various preanswer motions. On September 18, 1987, the trial court struck Galesburg’s affirmative defenses; however, the trial court reconsidered and certified the following issue for appeal on October 1, 1987: “Whether a municipality is precluded from asserting the immunities permitted under the Tort Immunity Act in an action brought under the Contribution Among Joint Tortfeasors Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 70, sec. 3 — 1—305 [sic])” (hereinafter the Contribution Act). In other words, is Galesburg immune from contribution under the Tort Immunity Act?

The Tort Immunity Act derogates the common law and must be strictly construed. (Rio v. Edward Hospital (1984), 104 Ill. 2d 354, 472 N.E.2d 421.) The supreme court held the Tort Immunity Act must be strictly construed against the public entity involved. (Reynolds v. City of Tuscola (1971), 48 Ill. 2d 339, 342, 270 N.E.2d 415.) Whenever provisions of the Tort Immunity Act have conflicted with other legislation, the supreme court has carefully considered the history and policies of each. Traditional governmental immunity applies to this discretionary activity in which Galesburg was involved. According to section 2 — 201 of the Tort Immunity Act, a public official is immune from liability for a “determination of policy or the exercise of discretion.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 85, par. 2 — 201.) There is a protection from liability even though the exercise of discretion may have been abused. The Illinois courts have consistently protected public officials (and the employing agency) from liability for such exercise of discretion. Only section 2 — 202 of the Tort Immunity Act allows imposition of liability for willful and wanton misconduct. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 85, par. 2 — 202.

For example, in Fustin v. Board of Education of Community Unit District No. 2 (1968), 101 Ill. App. 2d 113, 242 N.E.2d 308, the school district was protected by this immunity for allegedly implementing improper procedures to control a basketball game. In Fryman v. JMK/Skewer, Inc. (1985), 137 Ill. App. 3d 611, 484 N.E.2d 909, the county health department was immune from liability for allegedly failing to timely close a restaurant that supposedly served contaminated food. In Thiele v. Kennedy (1974), 18 Ill. App. 3d 465, 309 N.E.2d 394, a jail inmate sued the sheriff for willful and wanton misconduct for housing her with allegedly dangerous persons. This court held that section 2 — 201 barred the action as a matter of law. This court stated:

“Section 2 — 201 incorporates in statutory form all or at least a substantial part of existing case law governing employee immunities. The principle is that public officers should not be liable in tort for injuries arising out of the exercise of governmental powers vested in good faith if the powers are discretionary as opposed to ministerial in nature. The principle, known as quasi-judicial immunity, was derived from the immunity enjoyed by judges for actions taken by them in the course of their official duties.” Thiele, 18 Ill. App. 3d at 467, 309 N.E.2d at 396.

This court continued on to define the scope of section 2 — 201:

“This immunity is conditioned upon good faith exercise of discretion and extends only to acts not resulting from corrupt or malicious motives. [Citations.]
We believe that in the instant case, the plaintiff had the burden of alleging and of proving that the acts of the defendant sheriff were from ‘corrupt or malicious motives.’ ” Thiele, 18 Ill. App. 3d at 468, 309 N.E.2d at 396.

Plaintiff failed to allege the employees of the City of Gales-burg were guilty of willful and wanton misconduct with respect to their duties. The trial court should have dismissed or struck that portion of the complaint. If the plaintiff were guilty of negligence, the defendant is entitled to a reduction in the amount of the award assessed against her. To allow the defendant to recover in contribution against the City of Galesburg would in effect allow the amount of the award to be reduced twice, which would be improper.

In Fitzpatrick v. City of Chicago (1986), 112 Ill. 2d 211, 492 N.E.2d 1292, the city was immune from liability following the alleged negligence of one of its officers, who parked his police vehicle behind the scene of an accident and activated his emergency lights, when another motorist struck the police car, causing it to strike the plaintiff. The appellate and supreme court held that he was engaged in executing or enforcing applicable traffic laws. The supreme court noted:

“Thus, where the evidence establishes that at the time of his alleged negligence a public employee was engaged in a course of conduct designed to carry out or put into effect any law, an affirmative defense based upon Sections 2 — 202 and 2 — 109 of the Tort Immunity Act [citation] should be available to the governmental employee and his employer.” Fitzpatrick, 112 Ill. 2d at 221, 492 N.E.2d at 1296.

The defendant contended the Contribution Act superseded the Tort Immunity Act in this instance. We do not so agree.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Alexander v. Consumers Illinois Water Co.
838 N.E.2d 963 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2005)
Johnson v. United Airlines
Illinois Supreme Court, 2003
Brock v. Anderson Road Associates
703 N.E.2d 568 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1998)
Bd. of Trustees v. Coopers & Lybrand LLP
Appellate Court of Illinois, 1998
Board of Trustees of Community College, Dist. v. Coopers and Lybrand LLP
696 N.E.2d 3 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1998)
Henrich v. Libertyville High School
683 N.E.2d 135 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1997)
Buell v. Oakland Fire Protection District Board
605 N.E.2d 618 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1992)
McQueen v. Shelby County
730 F. Supp. 1449 (C.D. Illinois, 1990)
Lietsch v. Allen
527 N.E.2d 978 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
527 N.E.2d 978, 173 Ill. App. 3d 516, 123 Ill. Dec. 340, 1988 Ill. App. LEXIS 1199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lietsch-v-allen-illappct-1988.