Court Opinion

ID: 9532007
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:17:02.82393+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:38.923901
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SLATER, specially concurring: I agree with the result reached in this case, but I write separately to clarify one aspect of the decision. The concept of a “vested right” is, as the Armstead court noted, “not capable of precise definition.” Arm-stead, 171 Ill. 2d at 290, 664 N.E.2d at 40. In finding that plaintiff had no vested right to treble damages in this case, the court in part relies on the fact that plaintiff did not file his complaint prior to the effective date of the amendment. To the extent that this implies that plaintiff would have had a vested right to treble damages if he had filed earlier, I disagree. In my opinion, a plaintiff could never have a vested right to treble damages. Such damages are unrelated to a plaintiffs right to compensation for his injuries and are punitive in nature. They are purely a matter of legislative grace, revocable at will. See Armstead, 171 Ill. 2d at 291, 664 N.E.2d at 40 (there is no vested right in the mere continuance of a law; the legislature has an ongoing right to amend a statute). In other words, a person cannot have a “vested right” to a legislatively created windfall. I concur.