Rice v. Marathon Petroleum Corp.

• Citation: 2022 IL App (1st) 220155 U
• Decision Date: 23 November 2022
• Docket Number: 1-22-0155
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois
• Parties: LAURA E. RICE, as Special Representative of the Estate of MARGARET L. RICE, deceased, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MARATHON PETROLEUM CORPORATION, SPEEDWAY, LLC, and MANOJ VALIATHARA, Defendants and Third-Party Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. SOUND, INC., ILLINOIS BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY, LLC d/b/a AT&T ILLINOIS, COMCAST CABLE COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT, LLC, COMMONWEALTH EDISON COMPANY, DIRECTIONAL CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, INC., FLAGG CREEK WATER RECLAMATION DISTRICT, LAUREN'S RESTORATION, INC., NICOR GAS, and ROBINETTE DEMOLITION, INC., Third-Party Defendants.

2022 IL App (1st) 220155-U

LAURA E. RICE, as Special Representative of the Estate of MARGARET L. RICE, deceased, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
MARATHON PETROLEUM CORPORATION, SPEEDWAY, LLC, and MANOJ VALIATHARA, Defendants and Third-Party Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.
SOUND, INC., ILLINOIS BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY, LLC d/b/a AT&T ILLINOIS, COMCAST CABLE COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT, LLC, COMMONWEALTH EDISON COMPANY, DIRECTIONAL CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, INC., FLAGG CREEK WATER RECLAMATION DISTRICT, LAUREN'S RESTORATION, INC., NICOR GAS, and ROBINETTE DEMOLITION, INC., Third-Party Defendants.

No. 1-22-0155

Court of Appeals of Illinois, First District, Fourth Division

November 23, 2022

This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1).

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County. No. 18 L 0783 Honorable James M. Varga, Judge, Presiding.

JUSTICE MARTIN delivered the judgment of the court. Presiding Justice Lampkin and Justice Rochford concurred in the judgment.

1

ORDER

MARTIN, JUSTICE

¶ 1 Held: Appeal dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction. The trial court's dismissal of counts for personal injury based on violations of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act was not a final, appealable order when negligence counts based on the same operative facts remained pending. Subsequent settlement of the negligence counts did not cure the premature notice of appeal.

¶ 2 Laura Rice, as Special Administrator of the Estate of Margaret Rice, appeals from an order dismissing three counts of her six-count complaint. We dismiss this appeal for lack of jurisdiction upon our finding that the trial court's order was not a final judgment.^[1]

¶ 3 Margaret Rice sustained injuries on October 20, 2017, when an explosion and fire occurred in the laundry room of her apartment building in Willowbrook, Illinois. The cause of the explosion and fire was attributed to gasoline leaking into the sewer system from an underground storage tank situated at a Speedway gas station nearly 1½ miles from Margaret's apartment building. Margaret filed this action against Marathon Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiary, Speedway, LLC, which owns and operates the Speedway gas station. The station's manager, Manoj Valiathara, was also named as a defendant. Subsequently, Margaret died and her daughter, Laura, was substituted as the plaintiff in her capacity as special representative of Margaret's estate...