IL Supreme Court abolishes Public Duty Rule

For decades, municipalities and public service entities in Illinois, such as cities, villages, and fire protection districts, have been granted broad immunity from lawsuits filed by individuals who claim that emergency responders—like paramedics, firefighters, or police officers—failed to meet expectations regarding the level of care or response required in critical situations. On January 22, however, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that it was time to dismantle the judicial doctrine supporting this immunity. In a 4-3 decision, the court decided to overturn the so-called "public duty rule," which had historically shielded these entities from such claims.

This landmark decision came about as Justices Thomas L. Kilbride, Anne M. Burke, Charles E. Freeman, and Mary Jane Theis voted to eliminate the public duty rule, while Chief Justice Rita B. Garman, Robert R. Thomas, and Lloyd A. Karmeier dissented. The court's ruling, though, was accompanied by three distinct opinions: a primary opinion written by Kilbride and concurred with by Burke, a separate concurring opinion co-authored by Freeman and Theis, and a strongly worded dissent penned by Thomas.

"We find that the underlying goals of the public duty rule are better achieved by applying standard tort principles alongside the statutory immunities already in place rather than by maintaining a rule that denies a duty based solely on the defendant's status as a public entity," Kilbride wrote in the main opinion. "Thus, we abolish the public duty rule and its corresponding 'special duty' exception. Where the legislature has not explicitly granted immunity for specific governmental actions, traditional tort principles will now apply."

The case originated in Will County, where the East Joliet Fire Protection District and related emergency response and dispatch organizations faced a lawsuit from the family of a woman who tragically passed away after paramedics were unable to reach her in time for assistance with severe breathing difficulties.

According to court records, Coretta Coleman called 911 from her residence in an unincorporated area near Joliet in June 2008, seeking urgent help due to respiratory distress. Following standard procedures at the time, her call was transferred from the Will County 911 center to an operator at Orland Central Dispatch, responsible for sending out an ambulance. However, when the dispatcher tried contacting Coleman, she did not respond. Consequently, her call was categorized as being for an "unknown medical emergency" and placed into the appropriate dispatch queue.

Upon arrival, paramedics knocked on the door and shouted for assistance but received no reply. They also peered inside the house but saw no movement. After conversing with nearby neighbors, they concluded they lacked authority to forcibly enter the premises without police presence. The first ambulance then departed, prompting several concerned neighbors to call 911 again to report the situation. A second ambulance arrived shortly afterward, but only after Coleman's husband returned home and opened the door, 41 minutes after the initial call. Coleman was discovered unconscious and later declared deceased at a hospital.

Her husband subsequently filed a lawsuit accusing the various defendants—emergency services and dispatch centers—of negligence and willful misconduct. Initially filed in Cook County Circuit Court, the case was moved to Will County. There, a judge dismissed the suit citing the public duty rule, a decision upheld by an appellate court.

The public duty rule, dating back to the 19th century, essentially asserts that local governments do not owe a specific duty to individual members of the public concerning essential services like police and fire protection. Historically, this rule has shielded local governments from many types of personal injury lawsuits.

In this instance, the Coleman family challenged the rule itself, arguing that it created an unfair disparity between how governments and citizens are treated in legal disputes involving injuries. Although each pair of justices expressed differing rationales for their agreement, a majority of Illinois Supreme Court justices concurred that the public duty rule should be abolished. They reasoned that the state constitution's rejection of sovereign immunity meant that legislative statutes determining immunity conditions should take precedence in deciding when plaintiffs can sue municipalities and affiliated EMS agencies. If legislators wished to offer specific protections to EMS agencies or municipal governments, they were free to do so.

"Our state constitution's abolition of sovereign immunity, along with the enactment of various statutes providing certain immunities for official conduct of local government entities, forms a comprehensive framework for balancing public and private interests in evaluating municipal tort liability," Freeman and Theis noted in their concurring opinion. "Strict adherence to the immunity statutes enacted by the legislature is the optimal method to sustain this equilibrium."

Justice Thomas, leading the dissent, criticized the majority for disregarding long-standing legal precedents upholding the public duty rule without offering any compelling new legal justification. He emphasized that the doctrine of stare decisis mandates respect for established case law. "This court has consistently stated that 'stare decisis... expresses the policy of the courts to stand by precedents and to not disturb settled points,' and thus we 'will not depart from precedent merely because the court is of the opinion that it might decide otherwise were the question a new one,'" Thomas wrote. "Yet that is exactly what the concurring justices are doing here."

Thomas further argued that emergency responders frequently face high-stakes situations requiring immediate decisions amid uncertainty, with their personal safety often at risk. These professionals must operate free from the threat of litigation from those second-guessing their actions after the fact. Moreover, he highlighted that local public entities often deliver crucial community services that could be jeopardized if the fear of potential liability deterred them from providing these essential functions.

The case drew significant attention from public policy groups across the state. Organizations such as the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, the Illinois Association of Fire Protection Districts, the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel, the Illinois Municipal League, and the Illinois Public Employer Labor Relations Association all submitted amicus briefs addressing key aspects of the case.

Attorney Roman R. Okrei, a former Will County judge based in Lockport, presented the arguments on behalf of the Coleman family before the Illinois Supreme Court.

Attorneys Stephen H. DiNolfo, representing the firm Ottosen, Britz, Kelly, Cooper & Gilbert in Naperville; Kimbley A. Kearney, of Clausen Miller P.C. in Chicago; and Kevin J. Clancy, of Lowis & Gellen in Chicago, represented the defendants, including the East Joliet FPD, Will County, and the Orland Fire Protection District.

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