Ware v. The City of Chicago

              THIRD DIVISION
AUGUST 1, 2007
No. 1-05-4139
JEAN WARE, Independent Administrator of the Estate of )
Kelly McKinnel, Deceased, et al., ) Appeal from the
) Circuit Court of
Plaintiffs-Appellants, ) Cook County.
)
v. )
)
THE CITY of CHICAGO, a Municipal Corporation, ) No. 03 L 8085
)
Defendant-Appellee, ))
(L.G. PROPERTIES COMPANY; PHILIP J. PAPPAS ) The Honorable
RESTORATION SPECIALISTS, LLC; ) Jeffrey Lawrence,
GEORGE KOUTROUMBIS; and JACK EMERY, ) Judge Presiding.
)
Defendants).
JUSTICE GREIMAN delivered the opinion of the court:
This case appears before us on interlocutory appeal pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 308
(155 Ill. 2d R. 308), following the supreme court’s supervisory order directing this court to
consider those questions certified by the circuit court in light of DeSmet v. County of Rock
Island, 219 Ill. 2d 497 (2006).
As a result of the June 2003 Lincoln Park porch collapse, plaintiffs Jean Ware, as
independent administrator of the estate of Kelly McKinnell, deceased, et al., filed the underlying
consolidated negligence complaints against defendant City of Chicago. The circuit court denied
the City’s subsequent motion to dismiss those complaints; however, it certified the following three
questions, which we review on appeal: (1) whether the trial court erred in holding that plaintiffs
stated a legally sufficient claim that the City breached a duty to them when its inspectors allegedly