Subject Index Tort Law

On September 18, 2014, the Illinois Supreme Court held that a woman who tripped on a sidewalk crack while looking ahead to her destination did not satisfy the distraction exception to the general rule that premises owners are not liable for harm caused by open and obvious dangerous conditions.

On November 14, 2013, the Illinois Appellate Court for the Fourth District held that a temporary employee who is assigned a parking space in a parking lot designated for employees, and is then injured in that parking lot on her way to work, has sustained injuries that arose in the course of and out of her employment.

On June 27, 2012, the second district appellate court held as a matter of law that an automobile insurer cannot refuse to pay underinsured motorist ("UIM") coverage to its insured on the grounds that the insured violated a cooperation clause by settling with a judgment-proof tortfeasor.

An injured employee cannot recover additional tort damages beyond the exclusive remedy of the Workers' Compensation Act merely because the defendant employee leasing company failed to comply with the registration requirement of the Employee Leasing Company Act, according to the fifth district appellate court.

On July 22, 2011, the 4th District Appellate Court reversed the lower court's decision granting the Town of Normal's motion to dismiss plaintiff Mary Collins' retaliatory-discharge claim. Since Collins' claim was brought under the Workers' Compensation Act, there is an exception to the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (Tort Immunity Act), and her claim is not time-barred by the one-year statute of limitations in section 8-101(a).