Old doctrine cut short by immunity act

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted April 26, 2017 1:43 PM

Two Illinois Appellate Court opinions approved res ipsa loquitur claims against municipalities. But that was in 1916 and 1959 — before the legislature enacted the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act.Based on Section 3-102(a) of the immunity law, the city of Chicago moved to dismiss the res ipsa claim (Count 2) in a case about a sinkhole that swallowed a pickup truck in April 2013, injuring Mirko Krivokuca.Section 3-102(a), which starts by generally codifying the duty of local governmental …

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