Pouk v. Village of Romeoville

SUPREME COURT CASES

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State: Illinois

Court: 3rd District Appellate

Docket No: 3-09-1008 Rel

Case Date: 10/29/2010

Preview:No. 3--09--1008 _________________________________________________________________ Filed October 29, 2010 IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS THIRD DISTRICT A.D., 2010 MARIE POUK, Individually and as Special Administratrix for the Estate of Christine Jane Jungkans, Deceased, ) Appeal from the Circuit Court ) of the 12th Judicial Circuit ) Will County, Illinois ) ) Plaintiff-Appellant, ) ) v. ) ) No. 08--L--444 THE VILLAGE OF ROMEOVILLE, ) ) Defendant-Appellee ) ) (Gregory D. Gotches and Sybert) Landscaping, Inc., ) Honorable ) Michael J. Powers Defendants). ) Judge, Presiding _________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE LYTTON delivered the opinion of the court: _________________________________________________________________ Plaintiff, Marie Pouk, filed a complaint against the Village of Romeoville, alleging willful and wanton conduct. filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that it was The Village immune from

liability pursuant to the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (Act) (745 ILCS 10/1-101 et seq. (West 2006)). The trial court granted the motion. We affirm.

On May 9, 2008, plaintiff's daughter, Christine Jungkans,

was driving north on Hale Avenue in the Village.

After stopping

at a stop sign at the intersection of Hale Avenue and 135th Street, Jungkans proceeded to make a left turn onto 135th Street. At the same time, Tomasz Maciaszek was driving east on 135th Street, Jungkans approaching turned its intersection Street, with Hale Avenue. vehicle As hit

onto

135th

Maciaszek's

Jungkans' vehicle and killed her. In July 2009, plaintiff filed a three-count complaint

against the Village, Gregory D. Gotches and Sybert Landscaping, Inc. The counts against Gotches and Sybert Landscaping alleged The count against the Village alleged willful and The claim against the Village is the only one The following facts are taken from

negligence.

wanton conduct.

relevant to this appeal. plaintiff's complaint.

Gregory Gotches owns property at the southwest corner of the intersection of Hale Avenue and 135th Street in the Village. There are bushes located on the northeast portion of Gotches' property. In the fall of 2007, the Village was notified by a

resident that the bushes on Gotches' property obstructed the view of drivers turning left from Hale Avenue onto 135th Street. On

November 24, 2007, a Village representative inspected Gotches' property and determined that the bushes violated a village

ordinance governing intersection visibility. 2

The Village served

a notice of code violation on Gotches on November 24, 2007.

The

notice required Gotches to take action before December 1, 2007. After receiving the notice, Gotches' wife contacted the

Village and asked what she needed to do to correct the problem. An employee from the Village code enforcement division gave her the name of several Mrs. landscaping companies, Sybert including Sybert and

Landscaping.

Gotches

contacted

Landscaping,

Sybert agreed to trim the bushes. told the Gotches After that they no was

Sybert trimmed the bushes and longer obstructed the motorists' sent

vision.

the

trimming

complete,

Village

Gotches another letter indicating that the violation had not been abated. enforcement Thereafter, officer Mrs. Gotches informed that Sybert Village had code

Cliff

McChesney

already

trimmed the bushes.

McChesney told Mrs. Gotches that he thought However, he said he

that the bushes could be trimmed further.

would ask his supervisor and let Mrs. Gotches know if further action was necessary. Neither McChesney nor anyone else from the

Village ever contacted Gotches or his wife after that. Plaintiff's complaint alleges that the bushes on Gotches' property ordinances violated that two sections bushes of the Village's being code of near

prohibit

from

located

intersections so as to obstruct motorists' views.

See Village of

Romeoville, Illinois Code of Ordinances app. A,

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