Court Opinion

ID: 9735604
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 18:25:31.445968+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:27:00.335807
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE MAAG, specially concurring: Section 2—1116 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that "[t]he plaintiff shall be barred from recovering damages” if the plaintiff is more than 50% at fault. (Emphasis added.) 735 ILCS 5/2—1116 (West 1992). The insurance policy at issue obligates the insurer to pay "all sums the insured is legally entitled to recover” from the owner or driver of the underinsured vehicle. (Emphasis added.) Our supreme court has defined the phrase legally entitled to recover to mean that a claimant must be able to prove the elements of her claim to be entitled to recover damages. Elkins, 77 Ill. 2d at 390-91, 396 N.E.2d at 531. In our practice prior to Alvis v. Ribar, 85 Ill. 2d 1, 421 N.E.2d 886 (1981), and comparative fault, it was the duty of the plaintiff to plead and prove freedom from contributory negligence. Peterson v. Campbell, 105 Ill. App. 3d 992, 434 N.E.2d 1169 (1982). With the advent of comparative fault, contributory negligence became an affirmative defense for defendant to plead and prove. Failure to plead the defense waives it, regardless of the evidence. Blackburn v. Johnson, 187 Ill. App. 3d 557, 543 N.E.2d 583 (1989). With this background I believe that the decision in Elkins must be evaluated to determine whether that decision controls the instant case. The Elkins court was concerned with interspousal immunity. Immunity is based chiefly upon a person’s status. Wright v. Grove Sun Newspaper Co., 873 P.2d 983 (Okla. 1994). Generally, immunities are personal to the individual or entity and arise as a result of that person’s or entity’s position or status, e.g., interspousal immunity, judicial immunity, parent/child immunity. This was the situation in Elkins, and as a result the defense of interspousal immunity, being personal, was not available to the insurer. In contrast, the defense of contributory negligence is not personal. No special status or position is involved. Rather, the plaintiff’s conduct is simply evaluated to determine whether ordinary care was exercised. If the plaintiff was contributorily negligent, then damages are reduced accordingly. If the plaintiff was more than 50% at fault, he may not recover. The fact that interspousal immunity and contributory negligence are both affirmative matters to be pleaded by the defendant is not controlling. Rather, I believe that Elkins simply holds that "immunities” (being personal) cannot be claimed by anyone other than the party enjoying the immunity. I therefore concur.