Opinion ID: 2085379
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Discretionary Acts

Text: The City contends that permitting it to be held liable for the injuries plaintiff sustained during the fire drill would violate sections 2-109 and 2-201 of the Tort Immunity Act (745 ILCS 10/2-109, 2-201 (West 1994)). These sections provide as follows: A local public entity is not liable for an injury resulting from an act or omission of its employee where the employee is not liable. 745 ILCS 10/2-109 (West 1994). Except as otherwise provided by Statute, a public employee serving in a position involving the determination of policy or the exercise of discretion is not liable for an injury resulting from his act or omission in determining policy when acting in the exercise of such discretion even though abused. 745 ILCS 10/2-201 (West 1994). The Illinois Constitution of 1970 abolished sovereign immunity in Illinois, except as the General Assembly may provide by law. Ill. Const.1970, art. XIII, § 4. Consequently, the Tort Immunity Act governs whether and in what situations local governmental units are immune from civil liability. Epstein v. Chicago Board of Education, 178 Ill.2d 370, 375, 227 Ill.Dec. 560, 687 N.E.2d 1042 (1997). In construing the Act, our primary goal is to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the legislature. Barnett v. Zion Park District, 171 Ill.2d 378, 388, 216 Ill.Dec. 550, 665 N.E.2d 808 (1996). We will not depart from the plain language of the Act by reading into it exceptions, limitations, or conditions that conflict with the express legislative intent. Barnett, 171 Ill.2d at 389, 216 Ill.Dec. 550, 665 N.E.2d 808. The City argues that sections 2-109 and 2-201 of the Act immunize a local public entity from liability if its act or omission which allegedly caused a plaintiff's injury constituted an exercise of discretion. The City asserts that the appellate court erred in requiring that the act or omission also had been a policy determination. The City contends that, prior to the instant case, no court had construed section 2-201 as requiring that a public entity's act or omission had been both an exercise of discretion and a policy determination. The City also argues that even if the statute is construed to require that the act or omission had been a policy determination, the fire marshal's conduct as described in the complaint satisfies this requirement. Plaintiff responds that the clear language of the statute provides immunity only when the public entity's act or omission was both an exercise of discretion and a policy determination. Plaintiff argues that these two characteristics of a public entity's conduct are separate and distinct, and must both be satisfied independently for immunity to attach. Plaintiff contends further that the appellate court correctly determined that the fire marshal's conduct in this case did not constitute a policy determination, but asserts that the court erred in holding that the marshal's conduct was discretionary. This court has not previously addressed the issue of whether section 2-201 requires that a public entity's act or omission be both an exercise of discretion and a policy determination. By its plain language, the statute immunizes a public employee who serves in a position involving the determination of policy or the exercise of discretion from liability for injuries allegedly caused by the employee's act or omission in determining policy when acting in the exercise of such discretion. 745 ILCS 10/2-201 (West 1994). This language makes clear that the statute is concerned with both the type of position held by the employee and the type of action performed or omitted by the employee. According to the statute, an employee may be granted immunity if he holds either a position involving the determination of policy or a position involving the exercise of discretion. The statute is equally clear, however, that immunity will not attach unless the plaintiff's injury results from an act performed or omitted by the employee in determining policy and in exercising discretion. The employee's position thus may be one which involves either determining policy or exercising discretion, but, as the appellate court correctly held, the act or omission must be both a determination of policy and an exercise of discretion. In the instant case, plaintiff apparently concedes that the fire marshal's position involves either the determination of policy or the exercise of discretion. Plaintiff contends, however, that the appellate court correctly determined that the acts and omissions of the marshal described in the complaint were not determinations of policy. We disagree. The appellate court held that the fire marshal's act of directing plaintiff to stand behind a door, though discretionary, is not a policy determination within the meaning of the Act. 283 Ill.App.3d at 496, 219 Ill.Dec. 191, 670 N.E.2d 869. In so holding, the appellate court mischaracterized the nature of the conduct described in the complaint. The complaint alleges that the City of Chicago fire department planned, controlled, operated, and implemented a fire drill at plaintiff's place of employment on the date she was injured. The complaint further alleges that the fire marshal assembled plaintiff and her fellow employees in a corridor near the door which struck plaintiff, but that the marshal failed to place any warnings on the door and failed to provide adequate alternate routes for use during the fire drill. The complaint also alleges that the assembling of plaintiff and her fellow employees in the corridor in the vicinity of the door was carried out pursuant to a plan developed by the marshal before the fire drill began. We hold that these allegations describe acts and omissions of the fire marshal in determining fire department policy. This court has previously defined policy decisions made by a municipality as those decisions which require the municipality to balance competing interests and to make a judgment call as to what solution will best serve each of those interests. West v. Kirkham, 147 Ill.2d 1, 11, 167 Ill.Dec. 974, 588 N.E.2d 1104 (1992). The conduct described in the instant complaint falls squarely within this definition. The fire marshal is responsible for planning and conducting fire drills in the City of Chicago. In planning these drills, the marshall must balance various interests which may compete for the time and resources of the department, including the interests of efficiency and safety. The alleged acts and omissions outlined in the complaint, such as the marshal's decisions regarding where to assemble the participants and whether to provide warning signs and alternate routing, were all part of his attempts to balance these interests. Accordingly, these acts and omissions were undertaken in determining policy within the meaning of the statute. Plaintiff contends in the alternative that the appellate court erred in holding that the fire marshal's conduct was discretionary. In construing section 2-201 of the Act, this court has held that discretionary acts are those which are unique to a particular public office, while ministerial acts are those which a person performs on a given state of facts in a prescribed manner, in obedience to the mandate of legal authority, and without reference to the official's discretion as to the propriety of the act. Snyder v. Curran Township, 167 Ill.2d 466, 474, 212 Ill.Dec. 643, 657 N.E.2d 988 (1995). Under these standards, the fire marshal's conduct described in the complaint clearly constituted an exercise of discretion. The marshal bears sole and final responsibility for planning and executing fire drills in buildings throughout Chicago. He is under no legal mandate to perform these duties in a prescribed manner; rather, he exercises his discretion in determining how, when, and where to hold drills such as the one in which plaintiff was injured. The appellate court was therefore correct in concluding that the fire marshal's conduct was discretionary. Because the fire marshal occupied a position involving the determination of policy or the exercise of discretion, and because his conduct as described in the complaint constituted acts or omissions in determining policy and exercising discretion, section 2-201 of the Act immunizes the City from liability for plaintiff's injuries.