OPINION Justice KILBRIDE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 The issue in this case involves the construction of section 9(g)(3) of the Condominium Property Act (Act) (765 ILCS 605/9(g)(3) (West 2008)). The appellate court held that under section 9(g)(3), defendant Deutsche Bank National Trust Company failed to confirm the extinguishment of the plaintiff condominium association's lien created when the prior unit owner did not pay common expense assessments. 2014 IL App...
OPINION Justice THEIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 In this appeal, we consider whether section 24-1.6(a)(1), (a)(3)(C) of the Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon statute (720 ILCS 5/24-1.6(a)(1), (a)(3)(C) (West 2012)), violates the proportionate penalties clause of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, 11), and the equal protection clauses of the United States and Illinois Constitutions (U.S. Const., amend. XIV; Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, 2)....
OPINION Chief Justice GARMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd. (Burke Engineering) filed a complaint in civil court to foreclose on a mechanics lien on property owned by Carol and Glen Harkins. Heritage Bank of Central Illinois (Heritage Bank) has a mortgage interest in the same property. The circuit court of Peoria County invalidated the lien on grounds that the requirements for a mechanics lien set forth in section 1 of the...
OPINION Justice KILBRIDE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 In People v. Delvillar, 235 Ill.2d 507 , 337 Ill.Dec. 207 , 922 N.E.2d 330 (2009), this court examined the impact of the failure to give a statutory admonishment on the potential immigration consequences of entering a guilty plea. We concluded that the admonishment was directory, not mandatory, and categorized the potential immigration consequences of the plea as collateral, not direct. Therefore, the...
OPINION Justice THEIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 This appeal arises from an order of the circuit court of Jefferson County which granted a petition filed by the guardian ad litem (GAL) for the minor, A.A., to vacate a voluntary acknowledgement of paternity (VAP) signed by respondents Matthew A. and Caitlin S. with regard to A.A. The appellate court affirmed and held that after DNA testing established that Matthew was not the biological father of A.A., the...
OPINION Justice THEIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 In this case we are asked to consider whether an employee can bring an action against an employer outside of the Workers' Compensation Act (820 ILCS 305/1 et seq. (West 2010)) and the Workers' Occupational Diseases Act (820 ILCS 310/1 et seq. (West 2010)), when the employee's injury or disease first manifests after the expiration of certain time limitations under those acts. For the following reasons, we...
OPINION Justice BURKE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 The plaintiffs, Sharon Price and Michael Fruth, as individuals and on behalf of a class of similarly situated individuals, filed a petition in the circuit court of Madison County seeking relief from judgment pursuant to section 2-1401 of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2-1401 (West 2012)). The circuit court denied the petition on the merits and the appellate court reversed (2014 IL App (5th) 130017,...
OPINION Justice THOMAS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 The issue in this legal malpractice case is whether the circuit court of Cook County properly entered summary judgment in favor of defendant, McGuireWoods LLP. We hold that it did. 2 BACKGROUND 3 Plaintiffs are former minority shareholders in Beeland Management LLC (Beeland). In 2005, plaintiffs hired the law firm of McGuireWoods LLP (McGuireWoods) to bring certain claims against Beeland's managers, Tom...
OPINION Justice KILBRIDE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 The minor, Q.P., was found guilty of obstructing justice (720 ILCS 5/31-4(a) (West 2012)), for knowingly furnishing false information to a police officer with the intent to prevent his own apprehension. The appellate court reversed the circuit court's judgment, holding that Q.P. was already apprehended when he gave the false information, and a person already apprehended cannot act with the intent to prevent...
OPINION Justice KARMEIER delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 The overarching issue presented in this appeal is whether the circuit court erred in granting defendants summary judgment, dismissing plaintiffs' personal injury action, pursuant to the court's application of the doctrine of judicial estoppel. A divided panel of the appellate court affirmed the judgment of the circuit court. 2014 IL App (2d) 140100, 50, 385 Ill.Dec. 742 . We granted plaintiffs' petition...
OPINION Justice BURKE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 The question presented in this consolidated appeal is whether municipal zoning ordinances govern a school district's construction of football stadium bleachers on school property. The appellate court below affirmed the judgment of the circuit court holding that a school district is subject to, and its school board must comply with, local governmental zoning and storm water restrictions. 2014 IL App (2d) 140098,...
OPINION Justice THEIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 The sole issue in this appeal is whether defendant Chicago Zoological Society (Society), doing business as Brookfield Zoo, is a "local public entity" under the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (Act) (745 ILCS 10/1-101 et seq. (West 2010)), so that the Act's one-year limitations period applied and time-barred plaintiff Kristine O'Toole's negligence complaint. 2 The trial court...
OPINION Justice FREEMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Defendant, William J. Heelan, was awarded a line-of-duty disability pension (40 ILCS 5/3-114.1 (West 2010)) by the Board of Trustees of the Vernon Hills Police Pension Fund (Board). Plaintiff, the Village of Vernon Hills (Village), filed a complaint for declaratory relief against Heelan in the circuit court of Lake County. The Village sought a declaration that it was not obligated to pay the health insurance...
OPINION Justice BURKE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 On October 14, 2010, plaintiff, OneWest Bank N.A. 1 filed a complaint against defendant, Standard Bank and Trust Company, as Trustee u/t/a dated 03/18.1991 a/k/a Trust No. 5193 (Standard), along with unknown beneficiaries of that trust to foreclose a mortgage on property held by the trust. In response, Standard filed an answer and counterclaim on July 19, 2011. In the counterclaim, Standard sought to rescind...
OPINION Justice THEIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 At issue in this appeal is the constitutionality of section 15-1504.1 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code), which imposes a $50 filing fee in residential mortgage foreclosure cases, 2% of which is retained by the clerk of the court in which the foreclosure complaint is filed. 735 ILCS 5/15-1504.1 (West 2012). The circuit court of Will County found section 15-1504.1 violates the judicial fee officer prohibition...
OPINION Justice BURKE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 The plaintiff, Bill Hadley, filed a defamation lawsuit against the defendant, Subscriber Doe, a/k/a "Fuboy," based on statements made by Fuboy in the comments section of a newspaper website. After the suit was filed, Hadley requested the circuit court, pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 224 (Ill. S.Ct. R. 224 (eff. May 30, 2008)), to order Fuboy's internet service provider to disclose Fuboy's identity....
OPINION Justice THEIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 On August 28, 2012, the State filed a petition for adjudication of wardship in St. Clair County alleging that respondent, D.L.H., Jr., had committed first degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(2) (West 2012)). At the time, respondent was just 9 years old, and the victim was 14 months old. The circuit court found respondent unfit to stand trial, and in a subsequent discharge hearing found respondent "not not guilty"...
OPINION Justice BURKE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 At issue is the constitutionality of a $10 Rental Housing Support Program surcharge collected by the recorder of deeds for the recordation of any real estate-related document in a county. 55 ILCS 5/3-5018 (West Supp.2013). When originally enacted, the surcharge imposed by section 3-5018 of the Counties Code was $10 and provided that $1 of each surcharge shall be retained by the county in which it was...
OPINION Justice BURKE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 The defendant, Jose Gaytan, was a passenger in a car that had a rear-mounted, ball-type trailer hitch. Police officers stopped the car, believing that the trailer hitch obstructed the vehicle's license plate in violation of section 3-413(b) of the Illinois Vehicle Code (625 ILCS 5/3-413(b) (West 2010)). During the stop, the officers recovered cannabis belonging to defendant and he was subsequently charged with...
OPINION Justice KARMEIER delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 At issue on this appeal is the constitutionality of Public Act 98-599 (eff. June 1, 2014), which amends the Illinois Pension Code (40 ILCS 5/1-101 et seq. (West 2012)) by reducing retirement annuity benefits for individuals who first became members of four of Illinois' five State-funded pension systems prior to January 1, 2011. Members of the retirement systems affected by Public Act 98-599 and groups...
