Panel Rules Brookfield Zoo Not Immune From PI Suits
From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
The 1st District Appellate Court has reversed the dismissal of a personal-injury suit against Brookfield Zoo after ruling the circuit court improperly recognized the zoo as a local government entity.
Since 1934, the zoo has been operated on land owned by the Cook County Forest Preserve District. It’s controlled and maintained by the private, nonprofit Chicago Zoological Society under an agreement signed in 1986.
Kristine O’Toole filed a negligence complaint in July 2012 after she tripped on a zoo walkway and fractured one of her wrists in August 2010.
The zoo, citing the Tort Immunity Act, contended O’Toole’s complaint was filed past the one-year statute of limitations applied to local public entities. As a nonprofit that benefits the entire community on public land, the zoo argued it conducts public business.
In a 17-page opinion written by Justice Terrence J. Lavin, the panel ruled nonprofit status does not necessarily mean an organization is a local public entity. Further, Lavin ruled that the complaint was timely filed.
“In addition, while many private endeavors improve or affect the public interest, that alone will not render a private enterprise a public business,” Lavin wrote.
Under existing case law, public business is understood to refer to the government’s business, Lavin wrote. And a corporation is not conducting public business unless there is evidence it is controlled by the local government and subject to the same ordinances and regulations as governmental bodies.
The panel agreed with O’Toole that the zoo has not shown it participates in public business.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
The 1st District Appellate Court has reversed the dismissal of a personal-injury suit against Brookfield Zoo after ruling the circuit court improperly recognized the zoo as a local government entity.
Since 1934, the zoo has been operated on land owned by the Cook County Forest Preserve District. It’s controlled and maintained by the private, nonprofit Chicago Zoological Society under an agreement signed in 1986.
Kristine O’Toole filed a negligence complaint in July 2012 after she tripped on a zoo walkway and fractured one of her wrists in August 2010.
The zoo, citing the Tort Immunity Act, contended O’Toole’s complaint was filed past the one-year statute of limitations applied to local public entities. As a nonprofit that benefits the entire community on public land, the zoo argued it conducts public business.
In a 17-page opinion written by Justice Terrence J. Lavin, the panel ruled nonprofit status does not necessarily mean an organization is a local public entity. Further, Lavin ruled that the complaint was timely filed.
“In addition, while many private endeavors improve or affect the public interest, that alone will not render a private enterprise a public business,” Lavin wrote.
Under existing case law, public business is understood to refer to the government’s business, Lavin wrote. And a corporation is not conducting public business unless there is evidence it is controlled by the local government and subject to the same ordinances and regulations as governmental bodies.
The panel agreed with O’Toole that the zoo has not shown it participates in public business.
Read more in our daily News Update...