Court Opinion

ID: 9745567
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 23:10:09.663021+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:50.489621
License: Public Domain

CHIEF JUSTICE CLARK, specially concurring: I agree with the result the majority has reached in this case, but I do not agree with some of its conclusions and reasoning. Therefore, I specially concur. The majority relies on the concurring opinion in Moore v. Jackson Park Hospital (1983), 95 Ill. 2d 223, and the majority opinion in Mega v. Holy Cross Hospital (1986), 111 Ill. 2d 416, to reach its holding in this case. In the concurring opinion in Moore, it was stated: “In balancing the rights of injured persons against the need to correct the evil of the extended exposure to liability created by the discovery rule, the legislature concluded that it was reasonable to require that an injured person discover and commence his medical malpractice action within four years after the occurrence. Consistent with this intent is a requirement that a person injured prior to the effective date of the 1976 amendment must discover his cause of action and file his complaint within four years after the effective date of the [1976] amendment. A person who was negligently injured by a medical practitioner one day after the effective date of the 1976 amendment loses his right to file a suit for recovery for his injuries if his suit has not been filed within four years after the occurrence. It is reasonable to require that a person similarly injured one day before the effective date of the 1976 amendment discover his cause of action and file his suit within four years after the effective date of the amendment. It is true that this application of the amendment may terminate a right to file suit before an individual becomes aware of his injury. However, this is also true of those who are injured after the effective date of the amendment. We noted in Anderson that such a termination of a cause of action has been held not to constitute a due process violation. Anderson v. Wagner (1979), 79 Ill. 2d 295, 311-12.” (Emphasis added.) Moore v. Jackson Park Hospital (1983), 95 Ill. 2d 223, 243-44 (Ryan, C.J., specially concurring, joined by Underwood and Moran, JJ.). To begin with, as noted in my dissent in Mega v. Holy Cross Hospital (1986), 111 Ill. 2d 416, 429-30, Anderson did not address the constitutionality of the amendment as it applied to persons injured prior to the effective date of the amendment; and in Moore this court held that the amendment could not be applied to this group of plaintiffs so as to instantaneously bar their causes of action, but that they had to be given a reasonable time after the effective date of the amendment to file their causes of action. In Mega, the majority of this court held that the plaintiffs therein were barred from bringing their causes of action because they were not filed within four years after September 19, 1976, the effective date of the amendment shortening the statute of limitations. In the instant case, the plaintiff was injured in the 1940’s, so the injury occurred prior to January 1, 1979. He first discovered his injury in September of 1980, and suit was filed in October of 1981. So, discovery and the institution of the suit took place after January 1, 1979. The majority states: “We need not decide what would be a reasonable period after the effective date of the amendment to discover the condition. *** The record shows that the action was instituted within three years of the effective date of subparagraph (g) of section 13— 218 and two years of discovery, and we hold that plaintiff’s cause of action was timely filed.” (Emphasis added.) Ill Ill. 2d at 484. Although the majority does not specifically state why it is not necessary to decide what would be a reasonable period after the effective date of the statute, implicitly this opinion holds that the eight-year period of repose in the statute is the reasonable time period which should be allowed for this type of plaintiff to bring suit. I disagree with this conclusion for the same reasons I dissented in Mega. In accordance with the holding in this case, presumably if another plaintiff in a situation similar to the plaintiff in this case does not discover his injury and file his suit until eight years after January 1, 1979 (in other words by January 1, 1987), he will be denied access to our courts. As I stated in my dissent in Mega, I believe this result would be unjust and violative of the constitution of the State of Illinois. The majority in Mega and the majority in this case is accepting and adopting the outer limits imposed by the legislature in these statutory amendments as the reasonable time periods which should be allowed for these plaintiffs to file suit. In plaintiff Costello’s case, his suit was not time-barred. The plaintiffs in Mega were time-barred, and future asbestosis plaintiffs who unfortunately may not discover their injuries and file their suits before January 1, 1987, will also be time-barred. It is the application of these amendments to these two groups of plaintiffs injured before the statute’s effective date which I believe violates section 12 of article I of the Illinois Constitution, which provides: “Every person shall find a certain remedy in the laws for all injuries and wrongs which he receives to his person, privacy, property or reputation. He shall obtain justice by law, freely, completely, and promptly.” (Emphasis added.) Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, sec. 12. It is for this reason that I specially concur.