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McElmeel v. Village of Hoffman Estates8/26/2005
Plaintiffs Eric McElmeel, Elisa McElmeel individually and as independent administrator of the estate of Anthony D. McElmeel, deceased, and Matthew J. Lounds appeal an order of the circuit court of Cook County dismissing their personal injury complaint against defendants Village of Hoffman Estates (Village) and Catherine Bloss, individually and as an agent of the Village. The circuit court ruled that these defendants were immune from liability under state law.
The record on appeal discloses following facts. On December 23, 2000, Lounds was driving an automobile southbound on Barrington Road in Hoffman Estates. Anthony and Eric McElmeel were passengers in the car.
Defendant Catherine Bloss was employed by the Village as a police officer. On December 23, 2000, the Hoffman Estates police department became aware of a disabled vehicle on Barrington Road. Officer Bloss went to the scene to assist the stranded motorist. Officer Bloss stopped southbound traffic on Barrington Road, in order for a tow truck to pull a minivan out of a snowy ditch. Officer Bloss turned on the flashing lights on top of her squad car, as well as the flashing headlights and taillights, but did not place any flares or similar devices to notify southbound traffic of the need to stop. Officer Bloss and the stranded motorist remained in the squad car while the tow truck worked.
Plaintiffs' car was the sixth car stopped behind the parked squad car. A driver of another of the parked cars stated that she did not realize that both southbound lanes were blocked until the last minute, because it had appeared that one of the lanes was open for traffic.
A car driven by Dagoberto Noyola struck the rear of plaintiffs' car, causing a six-car, chain-reaction collision. Noyola was later cited for driving under the influence of alcohol. Plaintiff Anthony, who was 18 years old, suffered severe injuries and died five days later. Plaintiff Eric, Anthony's 17-year-old brother, suffered a severe closed-head injury, resulting in decreased mental status. Plaintiff Matthew Lounds, who was 18 years old, suffered brain trauma which paralyzed the right side of his body.
Plaintiffs filed suit against a number of defendants on December 27, 2000. Plaintiffs ultimately settled two dramshop claims against two defendants, voluntarily dismissed four other defendants and obtained a $16 million default judgment against Noyola, which remains uncollected. Noyola is currently incarcerated. In their pleadings, plaintiffs claim that the Village and Officer Bloss engaged in willful and wanton conduct.
On May 8, 2002, the Village and Officer Bloss filed a motion to dismiss the counts against them in plaintiffs' third amended complaint pursuant to section 2-619 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure (Code) (735 ILCS 5/2-619 (West 2000)). The Village and Officer Bloss argued that they were immune from liability under the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (Tort Immunity Act)(745 ILCS 10/1-101 et seq. (West 2000)). On December 11, 2002, the trial court granted defendants' motion to dismiss. The order became final as of January 6, 2004, when the trial court disposed of last remaining causes of action. Plaintiffs now appeal.
I.
The issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in granting defendants' motion to dismiss. At the outset, we note that the Village or Bloss was named in counts XIII-XVI of the third amended complaint. Counts XIII and XVI were voluntarily dismissed. Plaintiffs state in their brief that they do not contest the dismissal of Count XIV. Thus, the sole count at issue on appeal is count XV which alleged willful and wanton conduct.<
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