Court Opinion

ID: 9714480
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:38:33.612252+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:26.366095
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SIMON, concurring in part and dissenting in part: The plaintiff, Ruth Ellis, asserts that she was discharged without good cause from her tenured position as a professor at Northeastern Illinois University. Ellis filed an action against the Board of Governors of State Colleges and Universities of Illinois alleging that her dismissal violated section 8(3) of “An Act to provide for the management, operation, control and maintenance of the State Colleges and Universities System” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 144, par. 1008(3)). She seeks “an award of damages and appropriate injunctive relief for breach of [her] employment rights." (Emphasis added.) The majority correctly holds that Ellis may not bring her claim for money damages in the circuit court, but it erroneously holds that she is also barred from bringing a complaint seeking equitable relief in that court. Ellis’ request for reinstatement based on section 8(3) is no different from the action that this court allowed to go forward in the circuit court in Bio-Medical Laboratories, Inc. v. Trainor (1977), 68 Ill. 2d 540, 548. Ellis seeks an injunction forcing the State to continue their employment relationship. “Plaintiff is not attempting to enforce a present claim against the State but, rather, seeks to enjoin the defendant from taking actions in excess of his delegated authority and in violation of plaintiff’s protectable legal interests. Such a suit does not contravene the immunity prohibition. *** [Nor does] the Court of Claims [have] exclusive jurisdiction over the subject matter of this action.” 68 Ill. 2d 540, 548. The majority distinguishes Bio-Medical Laboratories, finding that Ellis’ suit is “clearly based upon a present claim which has the potential to subject the State to liability.” (102 Ill. 2d at 395.) While this may describe Ellis’ claim for back pay, it certainly does not portray the basis for her claim for reinstatement. The latter claim would be based on proof that although she is ready and able to resume her status as a tenured professor, the Board, contrary to its statutory mandate, continues to prevent her from doing so. Although the Board’s decision to terminate her occurred in the past, the relief sought looks to the reestablishment in the future of an employment relationship between the parties. The Court of Claims only has authority to recommend that the legislature make an appropriation for an award of damages in this case. But damages do not sufficiently recompense the plaintiff for the injury alleged; they do not give her back her professorship. To allow Ellis the opportunity to obtain complete relief I would allow her to maintain her claim for reinstatement in the circuit court.