OPINION JUSTICE FREEMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 At issue in these consolidated appeals is whether the circuit courts have subject-matter jurisdiction to determine whether the location agreements between plaintiffs and defendants are valid and enforceable contracts that control the placement of video gaming terminals in defendants' establishments. The appellate court held that the circuit courts lack subject-matter jurisdiction because the Illinois Gaming...
OPINION JUSTICE FREEMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 This tort case arose out of foreclosure proceedings involving plaintiff Melinda Schweihs's home. Plaintiff sued defendants Chase Home Finance, LLC (Chase), Safeguard Properties, Inc. (Safeguard), Todd Gonsalez, and Edilfonso Centeno for numerous torts, including emotional distress, as a result of Gonsalez and Centeno entering her home. Her emotional distress claims, which are at issue here, were dismissed by...
OPINION CHIEF JUSTICE GARMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Plaintiffs filed a complaint at law alleging multiple counts of medical negligence and loss of consortium against defendants. Defendants filed a motion requesting a 12-person jury and seeking a declaration that Public Act 98-1132 (eff. June 1, 2015) (Act) is unconstitutional. Public Act 98-1132 limits the size of a civil jury to 6 persons and increases the amount paid per day to jurors across the state....
OPINION Chief Justice GARMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Plaintiffs filed a complaint at law alleging multiple counts of medical negligence and loss of consortium against defendants. Defendants filed a motion requesting a 12-person jury and seeking a declaration that Public Act 98-1132 (eff. June 1, 2015) (Act) is unconstitutional. Public Act 98-1132 limits the size of a civil jury to 6 persons and increases the amount paid per day to jurors across the state....
OPINION Justice FREEMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 At issue in these consolidated appeals is whether the circuit courts have subject-matter jurisdiction to determine whether the location agreements between plaintiffs and defendants are valid and enforceable contracts that control the placement of video gaming terminals in defendants' establishments. The appellate court held that the circuit courts lack subject-matter jurisdiction because the Illinois Gaming...
OPINION JUSTICE FREEMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Following a voluntary dismissal, plaintiffs, Michael Richter and Denise Richter, doing business as Rich-Lane Farms, refiled their civil action against defendant, Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc. The circuit court of Macoupin County dismissed the refiled action pursuant to section 2-619 of the Code of Civil Procedure on the grounds of res judicata and the statute of limitations. 735 ILCS 5/2-619(a)(4), (a)(5) (West...
OPINION JUSTICE FREEMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 At issue in this appeal is the enforceability of plaintiffs' rights to retiree health care benefits as set forth in the 2004 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and Amalgamated Transit Union Locals 241 and 308 (collectively, the Transit Unions), the labor unions that represented CTA's bus and rail employees for purposes of collective bargaining. After the 2004 CBA...
OPINION Justice FREEMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Following a voluntary dismissal, plaintiffs, Michael Richter and Denise Richter, doing business as Rich-Lane Farms, refiled their civil action against defendant, Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc. The circuit court of Macoupin County dismissed the refiled action pursuant to section 2-619 of the Code of Civil Procedure on the grounds of res judicata and the statute of limitations. 735 ILCS 5/2-619(a)(4), (a)(5) (West...
OPINION Justice FREEMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion: 1 At issue in this appeal is the enforceability of plaintiffs' rights to retiree health care benefits as set forth in the 2004 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and Amalgamated Transit Union Locals 241 and 308 (collectively, the Transit Unions), the labor unions that represented CTA's bus and rail employees for purposes of collective bargaining. After the 2004 CBA...
OPINION Justice THEIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 The question presented in this consolidated appeal is whether Public Act 98-641 (eff. June 9, 2014) (Act), which amends the Illinois Pension Code as it pertains to certain pension funds for employees of the city of Chicago, violates the pension protection clause of the Illinois Constitution. Ill. Const. 1970, art. XIII, 5. On motions for summary judgment, the circuit court of Cook County declared the Act to be...
OPINION Chief Justice GARMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 In two separate trials, defendant was convicted of unlawful possession of vehicle titles and unlawful possession of a stolen motor vehicle. In each case, defendant filed a motion for new trial more than 30 days after the jury returned the guilty verdict, but less than 30 days after defendant was sentenced. The State did not object to the timeliness of these motions, and the circuit court of Will County...
OPINION Justice KILBRIDE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 The common-law "public duty rule" provides that a local governmental entity and its employees owe no duty of care to individual members of the general public to provide governmental services such as police and fire protection services. See Huey v. Town of Cicero, 41 Ill.2d 361 , 363, 243 N.E.2d 214 (1968). In this appeal, we address the continued viability of the public duty rule in Illinois. 2 A...
OPINION Justice FREEMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. 1 Plaintiff, Connie L. Bowman, as special administrator of the estate of Char L. Bowman, brought a medical malpractice action against defendant, Michael D. Ottney, D.O., seeking recovery for injuries allegedly caused by the negligent treatment of decedent, Char L. Bowman. During pretrial proceedings on the claim, the circuit court of Jefferson County made rulings on substantial issues. Thereafter, Bowman...
