Gaston v. City of Danville

SUPREME COURT CASES

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State: Illinois

Court: 4th District Appellate

Docket No: 4-08-0803 Rel

Case Date: 07/17/2009

Preview:NO. 4-08-0803 IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FOURTH DISTRICT

Filed 7/17/09

CHARLES GASTON, JR., as Special ) Appeal from Administrator of the Estate of ) Circuit Court of CHARLES CHRISTOPHER GASTON, Deceased, ) Vermilion County Plaintiff-Appellant, ) No. 06L35 v. ) THE CITY OF DANVILLE, a Municipal ) Corporation, ) Defendant-Appellee, ) and ) McCLINTOCK CIVIL ENGINEERING SERVICE ) and SCHOMBURG AND SCHOMBURG ) CONSTRUCTION, INC., General ) Honorable Contractors, ) Craig H. DeArmond, Defendants. ) Judge Presiding. ________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE TURNER delivered the opinion of the court: On April 4, 2006, decedent, Charles Christopher Gaston, age 17, was killed while descending a public parking garage stairwell when a stair stringer collapsed and, as a consequence, a staircase fell on him from above. On April 11, 2006, plain-

tiff, decedent's father Charles Gaston, Jr., filed a complaint alleging negligence and willful and wanton misconduct against defendant, the City of Danville (hereafter city). In October

2006, plaintiff amended his complaint to add McClintock Civil Engineering Service (hereafter McClintock) and Schomburg and Schomburg Construction General Contractors, Inc. (hereafter Schomburg), as defendants. In September 2008, the trial court In October

granted defendants' motions for summary judgment.

2008, plaintiff settled with McClintock and Schomburg and dismissed the counts against them with prejudice. Plaintiff appeals In granting

the grant of summary judgment in the city's favor.

summary judgment, the court held that the city owed no duty of care to decedent under the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (Tort Immunity Act) (745 ILCS 10/1101 through 10-210 (West 2006)) because he was not an intended user of the parking garage. Plaintiff appeals, arguing (1) the

trial court erred in concluding decedent was not an intended user of the stairwell and (2) the city had a mandatory duty to inspect its property and maintain it in a safe condition. remand with directions. I. BACKGROUND A. The Parking Garage The parking garage where the accident occurred is located at 22 North Walnut Street in Danville, Illinois. garage is four stories tall with parking on each level. The The roof We reverse and

is an open-air parking deck, which provides views of downtown Danville and the surrounding area. The garage has two stairThe stair stringer

wells, one each at the north and south end.

that collapsed and permitted the staircase sections to fall was located in the north stairwell and connected the landings at parking levels 3 and 2.5. The garage is open 24 hours per day, but parking is not - 2 -

permitted from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.

Any member of the public may

rent a parking space in the lot for $2 per day or around $16 per month. Monthly renters may park from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in any Public restrooms are

space in the garage seven days per week. located within the garage as well.

The city's Motor Vehicle Parking System (MVPS) office is located in the garage on the first floor. The office houses

the two MVPS employees, Dawne Chapman and Larry Coffey, who are responsible for all public parking in Danville. The public may

use the office to fill out and drop off monthly permit applications, pick up monthly parking passkeys, pay parking tickets, and lodge complaints. The garage has also housed public events at various times. Each summer the Downtown Danville Association hosts the

Crow Fest in the garage, and in the summer of 2003, two music concerts were held there. On New Year's Eve 2004 and 2005, the

garage was the site of the First Night party. Dawne Chapman, MVPS superintendent, had responsibility for managing and maintaining the garage. Chapman gave an

evidentiary deposition, in which she admitted that children and teenagers frequently played in the garage, especially on the rooftop parking deck and the ramps. In response, at some unspec-

ified time prior to the stair-stringer collapse, Chapman asserted she had placed signs stating, "[n]o [t]respassing, [p]atron - 3 -

[p]arking [o]nly" around the garage, including at its automobile entrances. The Danville Code of Ordinances (hereafter Danville Code) makes the garage a public place. Regarding parking lots

owned by the City of Danville, the Danville Code states the following: "For the purpose of preserving public peace, health, and safety, the entire premises occupied by a [city] parking lot, together with means of ingress thereto and egress therefrom, are declared to be a public place." Danville Code of Ordinances

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