Court Opinion

ID: 9861194
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 23:48:34.12245+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:27:34.371930
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HARRISON, concurring: I agree with the result reached by the majority. I write separately because I see no justification for revisiting our decision in Burke v. 12 Rothschild’s Liquor Mart, Inc. (1992), 148 Ill. 2d 429. Burke was a comparative negligence case. Under comparative negligence principles, a defendant’s liability in an action "based on negligence” can be offset to the extent that the plaintiff was contributorily negligent, subject to statutory limitations. (See 735 ILCS 5/2 — 1116 (West 1992).) The question that confronted this court in Burke was simply whether an action against a defendant for willful and wanton conduct constituted an action "based on negligence” within the meaning of this rule. The case before us today involves the quite different issue of contribution among joint tortfeasors. The doctrines of contribution and comparative fault are distinct. (J.I. Case Co. v. McCartin-McAuliffe Plumbing & Heating, Inc. (1987), 118 Ill. 2d 447, 463.) Contribution is governed by the Joint Tortfeasor Contribution Act (740 ILCS 100/0.01 et seq. (West 1992)). By its terms, that statute does not limit the right of contribution among joint tortfeasors to actions "based on negligence.” Rather, it employs much broader language, specifying that a right of contribution exists whenever two or more persons are "subject to liability in tort” arising out of the same injury to person or property or the same wrongful death. (740 ILCS 100/2(a) (West 1992).) Accordingly, the question we must decide here is not whether a defendant’s willful and wanton conduct is "negligence,” but whether it constitutes a "tort” within the meaning of the Contribution Act. This is a matter of statutory construction to which Burke does not speak. As the majority correctly notes, Illinois law recognizes that willful and wanton conduct may consist of either intentional behavior or conduct that is unintentional but reckless. Both are torts in the generic sense, and both would seem to fall within the ambit of the Contribution Act. The Contribution Act does not, after all, differentiate between intentional and unintentional torts or tortfeasors, nor does it explicitly limit itself to unintentional torts. Nevertheless, upon review of the common law and the applicable legislative history, our court has held that intentional tortfeasors may not avail themselves of the Act. Gerill Corp. v. Jack L. Hargrove Builders, Inc. (1989), 128 Ill. 2d 179. If we adhere to this precedent (and no one has suggested that we should not), the conclusion is self-evident. A defendant may not seek contribution from a joint tortfeasor where his willful and wanton conduct was intentional. In all other cases, where the conduct is unintentional, contribution is permitted by the express terms of the Contribution Act. For the purposes of this appeal, we need go no further. The soundness of this court’s analysis in Burke is irrelevant. By reaching out to reexamine Burke, the court accomplishes nothing but to provide willful and wanton defendants with another opportunity for avoiding the full measure of their liability to the plaintiffs they have injured. If the members of the majority are intent on achieving this unfortunate goal, they should at least wait for a case where the issue is necessary to disposition of the appeal.