Court Opinion

ID: 9715292
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:59:31.767382+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:32.830543
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE RYAN, dissenting: The court’s opinion in this case leaves me with the distinct impression that it strains to reach a desired result. Furthermore, I cannot understand the reason for the lengthy discussion concerning agency in this opinion because the cause of action against the school district is not based upon any act or conduct of the agents. The opinion, after ruling out the possibility that the teachers were acting within their expressed or implied authority, concludes that the jury may have found that the teachers had been clothed with an apparent agency. Even if the teachers who coached the football teams were clothed with an apparent agency, this would not render the district liable because the cause of action is not based on any injury brought about by reliance on the apparent authority of the agents. Count I of the complaint, which the opinion holds supports the verdict, charges the school district with negligence in failing to provide effective protective equipment to the participants in the football game, which, of course, has nothing to do with the agency of the teachers who were the coaches. I find the entire agency discussion irrelevant. It may be that my colleagues felt it necessary to establish the agency of the teachers in order to prove that the football game was a school function; however, it is not necessary to get involved in this circuitous reasoning. Whatever evidence there may have been to prove agency would be evidence that the football game was a school activity: The practice sessions and the games were played on school property; three teachers were present as coaches; and announcements concerning the games and practice sessions were made on the school public address system. The reasoning of the opinion therefore seems to be: the teachers were apparent agents of the school district because the activity had the appearance of a school function and the activity was a school function because the teachers were the apparent agents of the school district. Therefore, this reasoning would conclude, the defendant school district had the obligation to furnish effective protective equipment. Although the discussion of apparent agency is irrelevant, since the opinion has placed substantial reliance on this principle, I wish to comment briefly on its application to the law of torts. Usually the doctrine is applied to bind the principal on a contract made by an apparent agent while acting within the scope of the apparent authority with which the principal has clothed him. (See Restatement (Second) of Agency secs. 8, 27 (1958).) In fact, all of the cases cited in the opinion on this point are contract cases, and none are cases where a principal is sought to be held for the tortious act of an apparent agent. Rarely is a principal held responsible for the tortious act of one who is only an apparent agent. Some cases have held a principal responsible for the tortious acts of an agent acting within the “apparent scope of his authority.” The holdings of these cases do not usually mean that the master can be charged with the negligence of his servant on the mere strength of an appearance of being about his master’s work. In these cases it seems obvious that the employer’s liability was determined according to whether the matters complained of occurred within the general scope of the servant’s employment and not within the scope of an apparent agency. See Annot., 2 A.L.R.2d 406, 413 (1948). See also W. Seavey, Law of Agency sec. 8, at 13 (1964). Moving next to the reasons I believe the judgment for the plaintiff must be reversed, I will first address the giving of a clearly erroneous instruction. The opinion acknowledges that the giving of plaintiff’s instruction based on section 16 — 8 of the School Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 122, par. 16 — 8) was error, but found that the defendant was not “seriously prejudiced” and refused to reverse and remand for a new trial. (82 Ill. 2d at 436.) However, earlier the opinion states: “[T] he conflicts in the evidence make this case a close one to decide.” (Emphasis added.) (82 Ill. 2d at 427.) The cases are legion which hold that where the case is a close one on the facts and a decision must depend upon conflicting testimony, the jury should be accurately instructed. Both v. Nelson (1964), 31 Ill. 2d 511; Edwards v. Hill-Thomas Lime & Cement Co. (1941), 378 Ill. 180; Anlicker v. Brethorst (1928), 329 Ill. 11; Baddeley v. Watkins (1920), 293 Ill. 394; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R.R. Co. v. Warner (1884), 108 Ill. 538. I also note that the instruction was erroneous not only for the reason stated by the majority opinion, but because it in essence instructed the jury that the school district had a duty to supervise athletic fields and to employ recreational superintendents and athletic directors. Although the cause of action under count I was not based on the failure of the district to supervise the activities on the school’s playgrounds, the giving of this instruction setting forth substantially the provisions of section 16 — 8 informed the jury of a supposed statutory duty. The instruction is adapted from Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions, Civil, No. 60.01 (2d ed. 1971). However, that part of IPI Civil No. 60.01 which informs the jury that if it decides that the defendant violated the statute on the occasion in question, then it may consider that fact together with all the other facts in evidence in determining whether the defendant was negligent, was not given. Thus, this was not an IPI instruction modified. It was an incorrect, misleading, abstract statement of law that has no application to the liability of the school district in this case. An instruction on a statutory duty may be given only when the injury has a direct and proximate connection with the violation of the statute. (Brunnworth v. Kerens Coal Co. (1913), 260 Ill. 202, 216-17; Ney v. Yellow Cab Co. (1954), 2 Ill. 2d 74, 79.) Also, the giving of instructions which are nothing more than abstract statements of law, without connecting them with the issues of the case, has been condemned. (Gillette v. City of Chicago (1947), 396 Ill. 619; Dursch v. Fair (1965), 61 Ill. App. 2d 273; Sarelas v. Meyer (1943), 317 Ill. App. 382 (abstract of opinion).) As noted below, section 16 — 8 of the School Code imposes no duties on the board. The giving of this abstract statement in the form of an instruction to the jury as to the law of the case could only mislead the jury and cause it to believe that the failure of the school to properly supervise the football games was somehow important to its liability. As noted above, the courts of this State have many times held that where the case is a close one on the facts and the decision must depend upon conflicting testimony, the jury should be accurately instructed. I also point out that the opinion mistakenly states that section 16 — 8 imposes a “supervisory duty” on the school district. This section of the School Code does not impose a duty upon the school district to do anything. Instead, this section of the School Code grants to the school board certain authority that it may exercise over playgrounds, recreation grounds and athletic fields which the district has acquired. Since the school district is a creature of the legislature, it and its governing board have only the authority granted to it by the legislature or necessarily implied therefrom. It was therefore necessary that such a grant of authority as contained in section 16 — 8 be given to the school board before it could perform the functions specified in that section. By conferring this authority it clearly was not the intention of the legislature to require every school district that has “playgrounds, recreation grounds and athletic fields” to provide constant supervision over these facilities and to employ play leaders, playground directors, recreation superintendents or athletic directors therefor. Finally, this football game was plainly not a school activity for which the district had a duty to furnish protective equipment. Although formerly part of the school program, the game had been discontinued as such and was no longer permitted to be played in conjunction with a regular school athletic event. It was not authorized by the school board or the principal, and requested sponsorship by the school board had been denied. Both the practice sessions and the game were held other than during school hours. The teachers who coached the teams were not paid to do so and were not performing any of their school duties. When unauthorized announcements of the game were made on the school’s public address system, they were countermanded. In fact the school did everything possible to disassociate itself from this activity short of prohibiting the teachers from coaching the teams and prohibiting the use of the athletic field for the contest. Whether the school board could prohibit a teacher from such activity on a Sunday afternoon is doubtful, both as to its authority to do so and the effectiveness of such an order if given. As for prohibiting the use of the athletic field, the failure to do so cannot be the basis for imposing liability upon the district. There are hundreds of school playgrounds, recreation grounds and athletic fields in this State that are used virtually every Sunday afternoon by groups of students engaging in athletic contests, often using inadequate and makeshift equipment. These school facilities are public grounds, paid for and maintained with public funds. The people in most communities have come to believe that they have a right to use them, particularly on the days that school is not in session. It would be difficult to prohibit the use of these facilities short of building a chain-link fence around them and locking the gate. It is easy to say that we have here a question of fact for the jury to determine; however, we cannot so easily abrogate our judicial duties and permit a sympathetic jury to speculate that the teachers were the apparent agents of the school district. The question here is one of duty, which is a question of law. I would hold that, under the facts of this case, the school district was under no duty to provide protective equipment for the football game. This is the issue in this case, not whether the teachers were the apparent agents of the school district, which the opinion states is a question of fact. As noted above, the cause of action is not based on any conduct of the alleged agents. To permit the plaintiff in this case to recover will only cause school districts to restrict the use of school facilities to the detriment of the vast numbers of students who use them for Sunday afternoon recreation. I would reverse the judgment in favor of the plaintiff. UNDERWOOD and WARD, JJ., join in this dissent.