Court Opinion

ID: 9521700
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:10:09.75646+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:50:26.176861
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE MURRAY, concurring in part and dissenting in part: I agree -with the majority that the statute of limitations did not begin to run until the last injury. However, I disagree with the majority as to the propriety of reversal of the trial court’s summary action at least as to the Inverness Park District. The Illinois Drainage Code provides that only a party who wilfully obstructs or damages a drainage pipe may be held liable for damages resulting therefrom. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 42, par. 12—7.) Illinois case law establishes that the only duty a party participant of a drainage system has is to refrain from overt acts which are disruptive of the system. Fobar v. Higginson (1955), 6 Ill. App. 2d 29, 126 N.E.2d 521. The deposition testimony disclosed that the contribution of the park district to the flooding on plaintiff’s land was caused by a crushed drainpipe. The evidence also established that the crushed pipe existed at least two years before the park district acquired the property. The plaintiffs, in their reply brief, seem to argue only that there is an issue of fact as to the park district’s liability. Yet, the evidence before the trial court against the park district consisted of only the affidavits of plaintiffs that stated, “Your affiant saw employees of the Inverness Park District or someone else enter upon the land of the Park District and dump dirt and fill upon the land and grade it off.” Plaintiffs’ experts conceded that any landfill on the park district property would play a de minimus role in the flooding of plaintiffs’ property. Although the concept of de minimis non curat lex has disappeared from the modem law school classrooms, it still is recognized in Rlinois in cases of this nature. People v. City of Des Plaines (1966), 76 Ill. App. 2d 243, 222 N.E.2d 1. The right to summary judgment must be free of doubt. (Dakovitz v. Arrow Road Construction Co. (1975), 26 Ill. App. 3d 56, 324 N.E.2d 444.) The mere conclusion in the plaintiffs’ affidavit that an affiant saw employees of the park district or someone else enter upon the land, etc., is insufficient to create a question of fact. Even though a complaint may purport to raise issues of material fact, summary judgment is appropriate if the issues are not supported by evidentiary facts. Petry v. Chicago Title & Trust Co. (1977), 51 Ill. App. 3d 1053, 367 N.E.2d 385. There are no evidentiary facts indicating that the park district caused the crushing of the pipe or that it otherwise overtly contributed to the flooding on plaintiffs’ land. Accordingly, I would affirm the trial court’s granting of summary judgment for the Inverness Park District.