Court Opinion

ID: 9744896
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:22:03.042971+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:53.095207
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE COOK, specially concurring: It is difficult to understand the sovereign immunity argument in this case. The named defendant is Joeannier Smith, not the State of Illinois. Nevertheless, the Attorney General entered his appearance for defendant in the trial court and argued that the suit was really one against the state, which had to be brought in the Court of Claims. A judgment against Smith in the circuit court could potentially be collected from Smith. If the Attorney General had stayed out of the case, he could have argued, after the judgment, that there was no judgment against the state, only one against Smith. Why did the Attorney General take over Smith’s defense and argue that the suit belonged in the Court of Claims, where only the state, and not Smith, could be held liable? The answer seems to be that the state will be liable for any judgment against Smith whether or not this action is considered to be one against the state. The state will be liable for indemnification under the State Employee Indemnification Act (5 ILCS 350/1 et seq. (West 1994)). That is the reason the state entered its appearance for defendant Smith. It does not make sense to require that cases where the state is required to indemnify its employees be brought in the Court of Claims. State employees cannot be sued in the Court of Claims and, without a judgment against the employee, the state will never have any duty to indemnify. Brinegar v. Reeves, 289 Ill. App. 3d 405, 406-07, 681 N.E.2d 1080, 1082 (1997); see K. Beyler & P. Kelley, Jurisdiction and Immunity in Suits Against State Employees after Healy v. Vaupel, 79 Ill. B.J. 612, 617 (1991); cf. Oppe v. State of Missouri, 171 Ill. App. 3d 491, 493-94, 525 N.E.2d 1189, 1191 (1988). We should recognize this case as an indemnification case and reject the argument for exclusive Court of Claims jurisdiction on that basis. Whether or not the state is liable for indemnification, plaintiffs should have an opportunity to seek a judgment against Smith and that judgment must be sought in the circuit court.