Court applies exception to retroactivity rule

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted December 24, 2020 10:04 AM

Offering hope to a group of flood-plagued homeowners who sued Maine Township, the city of Park Ridge and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago for alleged negligence in the design, construction, maintenance and operation of a stormwater drainage system, the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision in Coleman v. East Joliet Fire Protection District, 2016 IL 117952, wiped out the common-law public duty rule. Coleman’s timing was providential. Although a Cook County judge had already tossed the …

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