Vroegh v. J & M Forklift

255 Ill. App. 3d 155, 193 Ill. Dec. 495
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 20, 1993
DocketNos. 1—91—4058, 1—91—4059, 1—91—4064 cons.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 255 Ill. App. 3d 155 (Vroegh v. J & M Forklift) 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
Vroegh v. J & M Forklift, 255 Ill. App. 3d 155, 193 Ill. Dec. 495 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinions

JUSTICE EGAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

This case is another in a considerable number of cases involving the “fireman’s rule” in Illinois, but it is the first case which questions the rule’s effect on the right of contribution between tortfeasors.

On January 3, 1989, Douglas Maicach, a member of the South Holland fire department, was killed while he was fighting a fire involving a propane gas-powered forklift truck owned by the defendant, ANR Freight System, Inc. (ANR), at a freight terminal maintained by ANR. Adrian Vroegh, the administrator of the estate of Douglas Maicach, filed a multi-count wrongful death complaint against the defendants, Worthington Industries, Inc. (Worthington), the manufacturer of the propane tank; Petrolane Gas Services, Ltd. (Petrolane), the supplier of the propane tank; J & M Forklift (J&M), which performed repairs on the forklift and ANR. Worthington and Petrolane filed third-party complaints against ANR for contribution. ANR filed motions pursuant to section 2 — 615 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 110, par. 2 — 615) to dismiss the wrongful death complaint against ANR and the third-party complaints of Worthington and Petrolane against ANR. The trial judge allowed all of ANR’s motions to dismiss based on the “fireman’s rule.” In this appeal the plaintiff and the third-party plaintiffs maintain that the “fireman’s rule” does not apply under the facts alleged in their complaints.

THE WRONGFUL DEATH ACTION

The plaintiff’s complaint alleged that ANR, with a conscious disregard for the safety of others, made the decision to utilize a forklift truck which had been modified from a gas-powered to propane-powered energy source without any approval or consultation with the manufacturer of the truck although it knew that use of the forklift truck with “unapproved modifications of any energy source by untrained personnel was likely to cause injury to others.” The forklift truck caught fire and South Holland firefighters, including Douglas Maicach, were summoned to the freight terminal. While Douglas Maicach was “in performance of his duties” and was “in proximity” to the forklift truck, the propane tank exploded; all or part of the tank struck Douglas Maicach and killed him. ANR makes no issue of the sufficiency of the complaint to allege acts of negligence on the part of ANR.

In Dini v. Naiditch (1960), 20 Ill. 2d 406, 170 N.E.2d 881, a fireman was killed when a staircase that he was climbing inside a burning building unexpectedly collapsed. Under the common law before Dini, a fireman was considered a licensee to whom a landowner owed no duty except to refrain from willful and wanton misconduct. The Dini court reviewed the trend of other jurisdictions which, in an attempt to ameliorate the harsh effects of the licensee status, raised the status of firefighters to invitees. Our supreme court chose to abandon the distinction between licensees and invitees but held that landowners owed firefighters a duty of reasonable care to keep their premises safe.

Although Dini established a landowner’s general duty to firefighters, the precise scope of that duty has been refined by subsequent case law. Later cases have held that a firefighter may recover from injuries resulting from causes independent of the fire, but may not recover for acts of negligence which caused the fire or brought the firefighter to the premises. A landowner, therefore, is insulated from liability under the “fireman’s rule” when the injuries are causally related to the fire itself and the risks inevitably associated with fighting the fire. See Court v. Grzelinski (1978), 72 Ill. 2d 141, 379 N.E.2d 281; Washington v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (1976), 66 III. 2d 103, 361 N.E.2d 282; Young v. Toledo, Peoria & Western R.R. Co. (1977), 46 Ill. App. 3d 167, 360 N.E.2d 978; Erickson v. Toledo, Peoria & Western R.R. (1974), 21 Ill. App. 3d 546, 315 N.E.2d 912.

The supreme court has explained the public policy consideration for the rule:

“This distinction evolved for two mutually supportive reasons. First, since most fires occur because of the negligence of the landowner or occupier, it was believed that the imposition of a duty to prevent fires from occurring or spreading on a person’s premises would place an unreasonable burden upon the person who owned or occupied improved land. [Citations.] This public policy consideration, however, tended to undermine the general duty imposed upon landowners or occupiers to exercise reasonable care to keep their premises safe. A compromise was reached with regard to firemen, recognizing that the risk of harm from fire is inherent in a fireman’s occupation.” Court, 72 Ill. 2d at 148.

The “fireman’s rule” has been interpreted to mean that a firefighter, who enters upon property to fight a fire, assumes the risk of being injured by causes related to the fire, but not those risks which are unrelated to the fire. (McShane v. Chicago Investment Corp. (1992), 235 Ill. App. 3d 860, 601 N.E.2d 1238.) The rationale for the rule is based on the fact that firefighters receive specialized training to anticipate and encounter risks associated with fires; while a firefighter may be able to recover for unexpected or hidden dangers, he may not recover for injuries caused by dangers which his training and experience would lead him to reasonably anticipate. Court, 72 Ill. 2d at 148.

In three cases, two firefighters and one policeman recovered for injuries. In Dini v. Naiditch (1960), 20 Ill. 2d 406, 170 N.E.2d 881, the supreme court stated that the collapsed staircase, which was unaffected by the fire, had been defectively constructed. The court also noted that the storage room located near the staircase contained highly flammable products, including paint and benzene, the corridors were filled with trash and there were no fire doors. The court upheld a verdict for the plaintiff because the failure of the property owner to exercise reasonable care in the maintenance of the property resulted in the death of a firefighter who was in a place where he might reasonably be expected to be.

In Hedberg v. Mendino (1991), 218 Ill. App. 3d 1087, 579 N.E.2d 398, while responding to a call about a prowler on the premises, the plaintiff policeman was injured when he tripped on a depressed portion of a sidewalk leading to the premises. The appellate court reversed the dismissal of the plaintiff’s complaint, finding that the plaintiff’s injury arose from a cause independent of the reason that the officer was called to the premises. The court applied the “fireman’s rule” and noted that firefighters are not allowed recovery for injuries sustained by risks that are associated with fighting a fire and are reasonably anticipated, but they do not assume risks that are “hidden from or unanticipated by the fire fighters.” Hedberg, 218 Ill. App. 3d at 1090.

In the third case in which the court found that the “fireman’s rule” permitted recovery, Harris v. Chicago Housing Authority (1992), 235 Ill. App.

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Related

Bally v. Pora
Appellate Court of Illinois, 1999
Vroegh v. J & M FORKLIFT
651 N.E.2d 121 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1995)

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