Court Opinion

ID: 9716697
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:48:17.03197+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:47.905247
License: Public Domain

PRESIDING JUSTICE HEIPLE, specially concurring: The plaintiff, Joseph Currie, sued Jose Lao, an Illinois State trooper, for damages arising out of an automobile accident which occurred while the trooper was dispatched to a nonemergency disturbance in the City of Joliet. At the time of the accident, the trooper was driving the wrong way down a one-way street. The jury found the defendant trooper 75% negligent and awarded the plaintiff $21,232.50, which reflected a 25% reduction for comparative negligence. On appeal, the defendant asserts for the first time that the doctrine of sovereign immunity and the doctrine of public official’s immunity should bar the plaintiff’s claim. Neither of these doctrines applies to the instant case since the trooper was not performing a uniquely governmental function. It is well settled that the negligent operation of a motor vehicle is not, as a matter of law, a uniquely governmental function. (Lusietto v. Kingan (1969), 107 Ill. App. 2d 239.) Here, the defendant trooper, in response to a radio dispatch that an intoxicated person was pounding on the outside of a trailer, chose to drive to the incident by driving the wrong way down a one-way street. Public officials have a duty, as do all other persons operating motor vehicles on the public highways, not to drive in a negligent manner. Accordingly, the trooper cannot be immunized from his negligent actions and the jury verdict should stand.