Rhoads v. Board of Trustees of Calumet City Policemen's Pension Fund

810 N.E.2d 573, 284 Ill. Dec. 783, 348 Ill. App. 3d 835, 2004 Ill. App. LEXIS 579
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 20, 2004
Docket1-03-2012
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 810 N.E.2d 573 (Rhoads v. Board of Trustees of Calumet City Policemen's Pension Fund) 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
Rhoads v. Board of Trustees of Calumet City Policemen's Pension Fund, 810 N.E.2d 573, 284 Ill. Dec. 783, 348 Ill. App. 3d 835, 2004 Ill. App. LEXIS 579 (Ill. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

JUSTICE THEIS

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant Board of Trustees of the City of Calumet City Policemen’s Pension Fund (the Board) appeals from an order of the circuit court which, on administrative review, reversed the Board’s decision to revoke plaintiff Steven A. Rhoads’ not-on-duty disability pension. On appeal, the Board argues that (1) the trial court lacked jurisdiction to review Rhoads’ complaint when Rhoads failed to name parties of record as defendants under section 3 — 107(a) of the Administrative Review Law (735 ILCS 5/3 — 107(a) (West 2000)); and (2) the trial court erred in finding that Rhoads was entitled to a disability pension because his former position of chief of police was not available despite the fact that Rhoads was discharged from that position. For the following reasons, we reverse the decision of the circuit court and affirm the Board’s ruling.

Rhoads received his appointment as chief of police of the City of Calumet City on May 24, 1988. On May 11, 1993, Rhoads submitted his application for a line-of-duty disability pension. On May 13, 1993, Rhoads was terminated from his position as police chief when a new mayor was elected. He did not contest his discharge. The City of Calumet City Police Pension Board denied his application for a line-of-duty disability pension, but granted Rhoads a not-on-duty disability pension under section 3 — 114.2 of the Illinois Pension Code (the Code) (40 ILCS 5/3 — 114.2 (West 1994)) on January 31, 1995, as a result of an injury to his left knee. Rhoads then filed a complaint for administrative review, and the circuit court reversed the Board’s decision and granted Rhoads a line-of-duty disability pension. The Board appealed to this court, which reversed the decision of the circuit court and found that the Board’s decision to grant Rhoads a not-on-duty pension was not against the manifest weight of the evidence. Rhoads v. Board of Trustees of the City of Calumet City Policemen’s Pension Fund, 293 Ill. App. 3d 1070 689 N.E.2d 266 (1997).

In 2001, the Board held administrative hearings under section 3 — 116 of the Code (40 ILCS 5/3 — 116 (West 2000)) to determine whether Rhoads continued to be disabled and, thus, could continue to receive a not-on-duty disability pension; or whether Rhoads had recovered sufficiently and was able to resume the duties of his position, necessitating the termination of his disability pension. Richard Cyr testified that the Board’s attorney hired him as a private investigator to take video surveillance of Rhoads working as a rodeo clown in 1998. He stated that he videotaped Rhoads on five different occasions for a total of five hours. Cyr testified that he did not edit the film, but only taped portions of each rodeo when Rhoads was performing. He did not see any chiropractors at the rodeos and stated that Rhoads did not limp or have a problem climbing in and out of the barrel. Cyr identified Exhibit H as the videotape he took at the Danville rodeo on July 18, 1998, which was then offered into evidence and viewed by the Board.

Ray Cox testified for Rhoads that he owns a rodeo school. He stated that he hired Rhoads as a comic clown or a funnyman, but testified that Rhoads could not be a bullfighter clown because he had bad knees. He did not have chiropractors at his rodeos. Rhoads worked for Cox approximately 25 to 28 times between 1998 and 2001. Cox saw Rhoads limp before and after performances and observed Rhoads ice his knees when they were swollen. The July 18, 1998, rodeo was not one of Cox’s rodeos. Georgia Knotts testified for Rhoads that she was a nurse who provided ice to performers at rodeos. She saw Rhoads perform at a rodeo in 1998 and gave him ice for his knees, but never saw a chiropractor work on him. She stated that Rhoads did not perform during the entire rodeo and placed ice on his knees between performances. Knotts also observed him with a limp and stated that he wore braces on his knees during performances.

George Vallis, chief of police of the City of Calumet City police department, testified that he held that position since May 1995. In July or August of 2001, Vallis told Rhoads that there were no full-time or permanent light-duty positions available in the police department. He stated that the chief of police serves at the pleasure of the mayor and could be fired at any time. His position, for the most part, was executive, managerial and administrative. Vallis testified that the mission statement of the department stated that he must be able to perform the duties of a patrol officer. Vallis testified that Rhoads could not return as chief of police.

Rhoads testified that he started “Christian clowning” in 1989 and began working as a comedy clown in rodeos in 1993. He stated that his knees tightened up and he was in pain and used chiropractors when they were available at rodeos. He also iced his knees on a regular basis. In 1998, Rhoads was involved in between 20 and 25 rodeos. At the rodeos, he interacts with children, does Gospel magic tricks and entertains the crowd. He stated that he performed in fewer rodeos in 1999, 2000 and 2001 because he did not have the physical capacity to do that many shows. Rhoads stated that he could do light-duty work at the police department, but could not respond as a police officer because of his physical limitations. He stated he can no longer perform at rodeos as he did in the videotape due to his knee and back problems, but he admitted that he was on the videotapes.

Dr. William Malik’s report dated June 22, 1999, was admitted into evidence. In that report, Dr. Malik indicated that he evaluated Rhoads that day and found him to have chondromalacia of the left knee and degenerative disease in his back. Based on Rhoads’ knee and back problems, he would be disabled from full-duty employment as a police officer. In a letter dated March 6, 2000, Dr. Malik amended his prior report and stated that Rhoads could return to full-duty employment as a supervising law enforcement officer, which would consist of medium workload activities. Rhoads could lift up to 50 pounds and could perform frequent lifting and carrying of up to 25 pounds. In his report dated March 29, 2001, Dr. Robert Miller diagnosed Rhoads with chondromalacia of the left knee and stated that he was disabled with respect to that knee. He stated that his disability was relative and prevented him from performing the duties of an ordinary police officer, but was not so severe as to preclude him from working in an administrative position in a police department or prevent him from functioning “perfectly well administratively as a police chief.”

In its decision dated March 12, 2002, the Board made the following factual findings. By ordinance, the chief of police of the City of Calumet City is appointed and can be removed by the mayor. In 1998, an investigative firm took video surveillance of Rhoads performing as a rodeo clown on five different occasions in order to ascertain whether his employment and physical activities since receiving his disability pension were inconsistent with his receipt of the pension.

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Bluebook (online)
810 N.E.2d 573, 284 Ill. Dec. 783, 348 Ill. App. 3d 835, 2004 Ill. App. LEXIS 579, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rhoads-v-board-of-trustees-of-calumet-city-policemens-pension-fund-illappct-2004.