Hubble v. Bi-State Development Agency

State: Illinois

Court: 5th District Appellate

Docket No: 5-07-0661 Rel

Case Date: 08/06/2009

Preview:NO. 5-07-0661
NOTICE Decision filed 08/06/09. The text of this decision may be changed or corrected prior to the filing of a Peti tion for Rehearing or th e

IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

FIFTH DISTRICT _________________________________________________________________________ BRIAN T. HUBBLE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. BI-STATE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF THE ILLINOIS-MISSOURI METROPOLITAN ) DISTRICT, d/b/a Metro and Bi-State, a/k/a Bi-State Development Agency, ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Appeal from the Circuit Court of St. Clair County. No. 07-L-118

disposition of the same.

) ) Honorable ) Lloyd A. Cueto, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding. ________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE STEWART delivered the opinion of the court: This is an interlocutory appeal pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 308 (155 Ill. 2d R. 308). The defendant, Bi-State Development Agency of the Illinois-Missouri

Metropolitan District, doing business as Metro or Bi-State, also known as Bi-State Development Agency (Bi-State), filed a motion to dismiss the complaint filed by the plaintiff, Brian T. Hubble. The circuit court denied Bi-State's motion to dismiss and then certified the following question of law for our review: "Whether Bi-State Development Agency is a local public entity as defined by the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, 745 ILCS 10/8-101, and is therefore subject to the one-year statute of limitations set forth in the Act." For the reasons that follow, we answer the certified question in the negative. BACKGROUND The St. Louis metropolitan area encompasses counties on both the Illinois side and the Missouri side of the Mississippi River, and Illinois and Missouri share a common interest 1

in the development of mass transportation in this area. In 1949, the two states entered into an interstate compact agreement to establish an agency responsible for operating public mass transportation facilities in the city of St. Louis and in three Missouri counties and three Illinois counties along the Illinois/Missouri border near St. Louis. The compact identified this area as the "Bi-State Metropolitan Development District" (the District). 45 ILCS 100/1 (West 2006); M o. Ann. Stat.

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