Rhodes v. Illinois Cent. Gulf R.R.

• Decision Date: 28 March 1996
• Docket Number: No. 78667,78667
• Citation: 216 Ill.Dec. 703,172 Ill.2d 213,665 N.E.2d 1260
• Parties: , 216 Ill.Dec. 703 Cora Lee RHODES, as Special Adm'r of the Estate of Carl Rhodes, Deceased, Appellee, v. ILLINOIS CENTRAL GULF RAILROAD, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 1260

665 N.E.2d 1260

172 Ill.2d 213, 216 Ill.Dec. 703

Cora Lee RHODES, as Special Adm'r of the Estate of Carl

Rhodes, Deceased, Appellee, v. ILLINOIS CENTRAL GULF RAILROAD, Appellant.

No. 78667.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

March 28, 1996.

Rehearing Denied June 3, 1996.

Stephen C. Carlson and James E. Taylor, of Sidley & Austin, Chicago (Michael Noland, of counsel), for appellant.

Jerome Mirza & Associates, Ltd., Chicago (Jerome Mirza and Eileen M. O'Sullivan, of counsel), for appellee.

Power, Rogers & Smith, P.C., Chicago (Ruth M. Degnan and Devon C. Bruce, of counsel), for amicus curiae Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

Phelan, Cahill & Quinlan, Ltd., Chicago (William R. Quinlan and Mary Patricia Benz, of counsel), for amicus curiae Chicago Transit Authority.

Chief Justice BILANDIC delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiff, Cora Lee Rhodes, as special administrator of the estate of Carl Rhodes, deceased, brought this action in the circuit court of Cook County seeking damages for Carl's death from the defendant, Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (ICG). The plaintiff charged that ICG should be held liable for failing to provide assistance to Carl when he was found injured in an unmanned ICG train station. Following a trial, the jury found in favor of the plaintiff and awarded $1,568,000 in damages. The trial court entered judgment on the verdict. The appellate court affirmed. 268 Ill.App.3d 589, 206 Ill.Dec. 293, 645 N.E.2d 298. We allowed ICG's petition for leave to appeal. 145 Ill.2d R. 315. The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association was granted leave and filed a brief amicus curiae in support of the plaintiff. The Chicago Transit Authority was granted leave and filed a brief amicus curiae in support of the defendant. 134 Ill.2d R. 345(a).

FACTS

The testimony at trial revealed that, at approximately 5 a.m. on Saturday, November 29, 1986, an ICG commuter train stopped to pick up passengers at 75th Street and Exchange Avenue in Chicago. The station at this stop is unmanned and consists of a "warming house," a room in which passengers may wait for the train. Raymond Deany, the conductor of the train, testified that a passenger boarding the train at this stop informed him that someone was lying in the warming house. In response, Deany and the collector, Casey Ziolkowski, left the train and stepped into the doorway of the warming house. Deany saw a man, later identified as Carl Rhodes, lying face down on the floor. Deany observed a "minute amount" of blood "smeared" on the floor around the man's head, but saw no blood on the man himself. Ziolkowski testified that he observed a man lying on the floor, but did not see any blood, either on or around the man. Ziolkowski testified that the man did not appear to be injured or in distress. He did not observe the man more closely to check for injuries because he was concerned he might have been injured or robbed by the man.

Deany and Ziolkowski returned to their train. In accordance with ICG procedure, Deany called on his radio to Lee Hastman, his "load supervisor," and reported that he had observed a man lying in the warming house with blood and that the man needed assistance. Deany testified that the man needed assistance to "get out of the warming house because he was not supposed to be there." Deany explained that he made his report because a man was sleeping in the Cora Rhodes, Carl's mother, testified that the last time she saw Carl alive was at home at approximately 2:30 or 3 a.m. on November 29, 1986. He had been out with friends when he stopped back at home for a few minutes and then left again. Carl was then 18 years of age and in his first semester of college.

[216 Ill.Dec. 707] warming house, an activity which ICG did not allow. Deany's train then continued on its way.

Eugene Owens, a long-time friend of Carl Rhodes, testified that he attended a party with Carl on the evening of November 28, 1986. Owens stated that Carl became "extremely intoxicated" and a "nuisance" at the party. At approximately midnight or 1 a.m., Owens was with Carl and several others at a gas station located at 79th and Yates in Chicago. Carl left the gas station with a man named Rod. When he left, Carl was carrying a significant sum of money and stated that he wanted to buy more alcohol. Owens testified that it is approximately one mile from the gas station at 79th and Yates to the ICG station at 75th and Exchange. There was also testimony that Carl's home was approximately one mile from the 75th Street station.

David Moore, another long-time friend of Carl, testified that he was with Carl and some other friends drinking alcohol on the evening of November 28, 1986. At some point, they went to Carl's house, where Carl obtained some money, which he told them was his financial aid money. The group then purchased more beer. In Moore's opinion, Carl became intoxicated. At approximately 1 a.m., Moore witnessed Carl and Eugene Owens get into an argument which led to a tussle between the two. Owens slapped Carl around and threw him on the hood of the car, causing Carl to bump his head. Moore last saw Carl at approximately 1:30 or 1:45 a.m. at the gas station. Carl refused to ride home with Moore and the others. In Moore's opinion, Carl was intoxicated at that time.

Rodney Latham, another long-time friend of Carl, testified that he first came upon Carl on November 29, 1986 at approximately 2 a.m. at the gas station at 79th and Yates. He and Carl began walking toward 79th and Crandon, the block on which they both lived. Latham testified that Carl was not staggering, and he could not tell if he had been drinking. While they were walking, a stranger came up and Carl asked the stranger if he knew where a liquor store was located. Carl and the stranger then walked away from Latham. No further evidence was introduced regarding Carl's whereabouts until he was discovered at 5 a.m. in the ICG warming house.

ICG load supervisor Lee Hastman testified that he received a report from conductor Deany's train at 5:02 a.m. of a man lying in the warming house. Hastman immediately transmitted this information to ICG police dispatcher Jerome Meehan. Meehan testified that he received Hastman's call at around 5 a.m. and that nothing in this report suggested that any serious illness was involved. In accordance with ICG procedure, Meehan immediately contacted the patrolman on duty, Mark Krull, via radio, and relayed the report. Krull was engaged in the task of opening ICG's Van Buren station and instructed Meehan to contact the Chicago police department. Meehan contacted the Chicago police department at 5:02 a.m. and relayed the report he had received from Hastman. As of that time, Meehan had never known the Chicago police to fail to respond when he called them for assistance.

Conductor Deany's train again stopped at 75th and Exchange at approximately 5:48 a.m. Collector Ziolkowski looked out from the train at this time and saw that the man was still lying in the warming house. Ziolkowski reported this to the train engineer, Lavonne Blaylock.

Conductor Deany's train next stopped at 75th and Exchange at about 6:40 a.m. Deany looked out the window and saw the man lying there. Deany called on his radio to load supervisor Hastman to report that the man was still there. Hastman told Deany that he had taken care of the situation.

At 7:56 a.m., a conductor from another train passing through the station called on the radio to report that a man was sleeping in the warming house. James Carpenter, the load supervisor now on duty, received the In response to Carpenter's call, dispatcher Wheeler called on the radio to ICG patrolman Richard Bilek, the patrolman then on duty. Bilek, however, was busy and instructed Wheeler to call the Chicago police department. Bilek testified that he had been engaged since the start of his 7 a.m. shift performing a number of his police duties, including providing security while ticket vending machines were serviced. After speaking to Bilek, Wheeler called the Chicago police and relayed the report. In Wheeler's experience, the Chicago police responded when ICG police requested assistance.

[216 Ill.Dec. 708] report and relayed the information to the ICG police dispatcher. Carpenter testified that the load supervisor's office receives a lot of reports of persons lying in warming houses and that such calls are a routine matter in the wintertime. ICG police dispatcher Nancy Wheeler confirmed that it was very common for ICG to receive reports of persons sleeping in the warming houses. If a person were found sleeping in a warming house, the ICG procedure was to have them removed, either by ICG police or the local municipality's police.

Chicago police officers David Gomez and John Gomez testified that they were dispatched to meet an ICG police unit somewhere in the vicinity of 75th Street, Exchange and Saginaw at approximately 8 a.m. They went to that location. It was their understanding that an ICG police unit was to meet them there, and finding no such unit, they left without entering the station. There was no evidence that anyone from ICG told the Chicago police that an ICG representative would meet the Chicago police at the station.

At 9 a.m., conductor Deany's train again stopped at the 75th and Exchange station. A passenger boarding the train informed Deany that a man was in the warming house who appeared to be sleeping and was snoring. Deany did not report this information by radio to the load supervisor because he had already reported the man twice. Collector Ziolkowski testified that, at the end of his shift at 9:30 a.m., he went into the load supervisor's office and asked him if anything had been done about the man lying in the warming house. Ziolkowski testified that he was "kind of surprised" and "curious" that the man was still there. Records indicated that an engineer from one of the commuter trains, possibly Blaylock, also relayed a report to load...