First District Appellate Court Affirms David Osborne’s Summary Judgment Ruling In Wrongful Death Case

In the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court, David Osborne successfully defended against an appeal taken by Plaintiff after summary judgment was granted in favor of our client in a Cook County wrongful death case.  In the lower court, LPP Partner Howard Trafman successfully argued that the insureds were immune against a wrongful death claim under the exclusive remedy provision of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act.

The lawsuit arose from an incident where the insureds’ employee fatally stabbed his manager while the two were working the night shift at one of its franchise restaurants. Plaintiff, the decedent’s mother, argued that the factual record created a possibility that the employee attacked his manager for “purely personal” reasons, thus subjecting the insureds to liability beyond their role as plaintiff’s employers.

Following the completion of oral discovery, the trial court granted the insureds summary judgment after finding that there was no evidence that the personal relationship between the two was the motive for the fatal attack. Howard argued that the insureds were immune from a civil lawsuit under the exclusive remedy provision of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act because Plaintiff’s arguments as to the motive of the attack were based on nothing more than pure speculation. On appeal, David successfully argued that the record was void of facts necessary to support any of the four factors to escape the exclusive remedy provision.

You can read the full Appellate Court opinion here: No. 1-22-0742 Opinion