Local Government Law Bulletin
Avoiding Police Checkpoint Not a Proper Basis for Investigatory Stop
The case of People v. Timmsen addressed whether a police officer had reasonable suspicion to initiate a traffic stop on a vehicle that made a lawful U-turn within 50 feet of a police safety checkpoint. At play were an individual's right to privacy versus the...
Satisfying Levy Detail Requirements
As we enter December and the end of tax levy season, we remind you that state statute requires your levy ordinance to specify “in detail in the manner authorized for the annual appropriation ordinance or budget of the municipality, the purposes for which the...
Governmental Immunity Takes a Slide
In the recent case of Bowman v. Chicago Park District, the First District Appellate Court reversed a trial court’s grant of summary judgment finding that a thirteen year old was not the intended user of a slide, where an ordinance prohibited children twelve and over...
Liquor License: A Right or a Privilege?
WISAM 1, Inc. v. Ill. Liquor Control Comm'n, 2014 IL 116173 (2014) In this recent case, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the Appellate Court’s ruling that the decision of the deputy local liquor control commissioner of the City of Peoria (Local Commissioner) to...
Supreme Court Decision Restores Municipal Protections under Bond Act
On October 17, 2014, in a case entitled Lake County Grading Company v. The Village of Antioch, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the appellate and circuit court rulings and restored protections against subcontractor construction claims for municipalities and...
Municipalities Must Establish Authority to Impound Vehicles
The appellate court in Hayenga v. City of Rockford ruled that the impoundment of a vehicle was not authorized. The primary takeaway is that a municipality must clearly establish the basis for which it is authorized to impound a vehicle on the record during an...
Sidewalk Liability and the “Distraction Exception” to the Rule of Open and Obvious Danger
In the recent case of Bruns v. Centralia, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the City of Centralia did not owe a duty to a pedestrian injured from a fall on a city sidewalk. At the heart of the decision was the application of the “distraction exception” to tort...
Illinois Lawmakers Examine Police Body Cameras
A number of interested parties, including several state lawmakers, appeared before the Illinois Judiciary Committee to address issues regarding police officers wearing body cameras: from cost to legality to public disclosure of the videos. The concept has been...
Municipality Successfully Defends PSEBA Claim
On October 3, 2014, a municipality represented by ZRFM's Carlos Arévalo and faced with a Public Safety Employee Benefits Act (PSEBA) lawsuit, finally received word of whether or not it would be responsible to pay the plaintiff, the widow of a firefighter suffering an...