Pandering Democratic Illinois Supreme Court kills law protecting police from lawsuits
Responders will no longer have blanket immunity from lawsuits brought by individuals who accuse them of improper protection
By PoliceOne Staff
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to discard a rule that protects fire, police and ambulance services accused of failing to provide a level of response from lawsuits.
Cook County Record reported that justices Thomas Kilbride, Anne Burke, Charles Freeman and Mary Jane Thesis came together to abolish the public duty rule. Chief Justice Rita Garman, Robert Thomas and Lloyd Karmeier joined in a dissent to the majority position.
"We conclude that the underlying purposes of the public duty rule are better served by application of conventional tort principles and the immunity protection afforded by statutes than by a rule that precludes a finding of a duty on the basis of the defendant’s status as a public entity," Kilbride wrote in the lead opinion. "Accordingly, we hereby abolish the public duty rule and its special duty exception. Therefore, in cases where the legislature has not provided immunity for certain governmental activities, traditional tort principles apply."
The case arose after the East Joliet Fire Protection District was sued by the family of a woman who died in her home in 2008 when paramedics were unable to quickly render aid as she experienced respiratory problems.
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