Four-Year Rather Than One-Year Tort Immunity Limitations Period Applies to Suits Involving Construction Injuries
December, 2003
The Illinois Appellate Court holds that an injured construction worker’s claim is subject to a four-year statute of limitations rather than the one-year limitations period under the Tort Immunity Act even where the site was controlled by a municipality. Hager v. Two-In-One Contractors, 797 N.E.2d 167 (Ill. App. 2003).
Facts
Hager was an employee of Walsh Construction, the general contractor, and was injured while working on a job site controlled by the City of Chicago. The project involved the design and construction of the new Chicago police headquarters. Plaintiff filed suit against Two-In-One Contractors as well as the City. Two-In-One was a subcontractor on the project and was hired to provide, pour, place and finish concrete. Plaintiff was injured when he slipped and fell on debris resulting from concrete over pour and pieces of loose concrete left on the ground. Plaintiff’s complaint alleging negligence and loss of consortium was filed one day short of two years following the date of the occurrence.
The City of Chicago moved for dismissal pursuant to the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, 745 ILCS 10/8-101 (West 2000). Section 8-101 of the Tort Immunity Act provides in pertinent part as follows:
no civil action may be commenced in any court against any local entity or any of its employees for injury unless it is commenced within one year from the day of the injury was received or the cause of action accrued. For purposes of this article, the term civil action includes any action whether based upon common law or statutes or constitution of the state.
The City argued that their status as a local public entity required application the one-year statute of limitations. Plaintiff responded that a four-year statute of limitations applied based upon Section 13-214 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which provides that causes against a construction entity for the design, planning, supervision, observation or management of construction or construction improvement to real property shall be commence within four years of the time the person knew or should have known of such act or omission.
The trial court dismissed the complaint on statute of limitations grounds, relying heavily on Greb v. Forest Preserve District, 752 N.E.2d 519 (Ill. App. 2001). In Greb, plaintiff was injured when he encountered road repair work, drove his motorcycle over loose stone, skidded, lost control and collided with a barricade. Two and one-half years after the accident, Greb filed an amended complaint against the City of Chicago. The trial court granted the City’s motion to dismiss based on the one-year statute of limitations in the Tort Immunity Act and the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed.
Analysis
Here, there were two statutes which could apply to plaintiff’s cause of action. The Illinois Appellate Court noted that in dealing with competing statutes of limitations, the specific statute should control over the general. However, situations can arise where both provisions are specific and neither are general. The court then must decide which of the two statutory provisions is more specifically applicable to the case. In this situation, the court has held that it has the duty to interpret those statutes in a manner that avoids an inconsistency and gives effect to both statutes, where such an interpretation is reasonably possible.
The Hager court ultimately concluded that Section 13-214, which allows for a four-year statute of limitations for construction projects and expressly includes governmental entities on its face, deals more specifically with the cause of action in this case and thus the four-year statute of limitations should apply. The court explained:
We believe that when the government gets in the business of construction, it should be treated, in the main, no differently than any other business engaged in construction. Because of the unique types of claims that arise out of construction type accidents, it makes sense to have more time to sort out potential defendants and the relative rights and responsibilities.
The court accordingly reversed and remanded.
Learning Point:
It now appears cases brought against municipalities and local governments which are involved in construction projects will be subject to a four-year construction statute of limitations rather than the one-year Tort Immunity Act limitations period in Illinois. ?
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