Griffith Wrecking Co., Inc. v. Greminger

• Decision Date: 28 November 1978
• Docket Number: No. 15021,15021
• Citation: 382 N.E.2d 1387,65 Ill.App.3d 962,22 Ill.Dec. 632
• Parties: , 22 Ill.Dec. 632 GRIFFITH WRECKING COMPANY, INC., a corporation, Plaintiff, v. Rick GREMINGER, Defendant-Third Party Plaintiff-Counterdefendant-Appellee, v. CITY OF SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, a municipal corporation, Third Party Defendant- Counterplaintiff-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 1387

382 N.E.2d 1387

65 Ill.App.3d 962, 22 Ill.Dec. 632

GRIFFITH WRECKING COMPANY, INC., a corporation, Plaintiff, v. Rick GREMINGER, Defendant-Third Party Plaintiff-Counterdefendant-Appellee, v. CITY OF SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, a municipal corporation,

Third Party Defendant- Counterplaintiff-Appellant.

No. 15021.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fourth District.

Nov. 28, 1978.

Thomas P. Schanzle-Haskins, Asst. Corp. Counsel, Springfield, for third party defendant-counterplaintiff-appellant.

Robert Weiner, Terry L. Fields, Springfield, for third party plaintiff-counterdefendant-appellee.

GREEN, Presiding Justice:

This case concerns the duty of an owner of a building destroyed by fire to reimburse the City in which the building is located for the cost of emergency demolition work performed by the City while the City was searching for human bodies that might have been buried in the rubble.

The City asserts that the owner was required by law to demolish the building for reasons of public safety and that when it did the work for him, it was entitled to recover upon an implied contract theory. The owner maintains that he was not liable. After a bench trial, the circuit court found for the owner.

Plaintiff Griffith Wrecking Company, Inc., began the litigation by suing the owner, defendant-third party plaintiff-counterdefendant Rick Greminger in the circuit court of Sangamon County for the total amount of work performed by plaintiff in demolishing the building. Defendant Greminger admitted liability for the portion of the claim which represented work done by plaintiff at Greminger's express request after Greminger had received notice from third party defendant-counterplaintiff City of Springfield to demolish the remains of the building. That portion of the dispute is not before us on appeal.

Greminger filed a third party complaint against the City for a declaratory judgment, seeking a determination as to his responsibility and that of the City to pay the portion of the bill covering four days of work done by plaintiff at City's request on the day of the fire and at a time when a search was being conducted for the bodies of two unaccounted for inhabitants of the building. A counterclaim to the third party complaint was then filed by the City against Greminger, seeking recovery by it for money paid by the City to plaintiff covering this portion of plaintiff's work. The appeal is from the order of the trial court determining Greminger not liable to the City and thus placing the full responsibility for the four days work upon the City.

The evidence showed the Greminger building to have been destroyed by fire on March 22, 1977. David M. Tyner, director of the City's building and zoning department, testified that on that date he viewed the burned premises and after consulting with the City's fire chief, determined "that portions of the building needed to be demolished immediately." He then contacted plaintiff to perform some partial demolition. It is not disputed that, at the time, the fire department wished to search for bodies in the rubble and that this search continued through the four days. Tyner stated that the body search was not the main reason for the demolition work but conceded that some demolition had to be done in order for the body search to proceed safely.

On the other hand, John Griffith, plaintiff's president, described his directions from the Springfield Fire Department as follows:

"Fire Department called and asked me to look for some bodies, to tear the building down. Unsafe building."

The following question and answer were part of Griffith's cross-examination:

"Q And in order to get into those premises, you had to...