 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
City of Chicago v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp.11/18/2004
e harm] and yet it is inappropriate to subject that party to tort liability.' " Spitzer, 309 A.D.2d at 104, 761 N.Y.S.2d at 202 (quoting the lower court in the same case). See also Abrams, 211 Ill. 2d at 262 (noting that while all traffic accidents are "to some extent remotely foreseeable," the city's failure to send an ambulance was not the legal cause of an accident that occurred while plaintiff was en route to the hospital in a private vehicle).
We turn, finally, to the remedial issues raised by defendants.
F. Remedies Sought by Plaintiffs
"It is generally conceded that a nuisance is remediable by injunction or a suit for damages." Village of Wilsonville, 86 Ill. 2d at 22.
1. Damages
Defendants' remoteness argument has two facets. We considered, above, whether their conduct is too remote from the criminal acts of third parties to be considered a legal cause of the resulting harm. The second facet of defendants' remoteness argument is that because any harm to the city and county is merely derivative of injuries to individuals who have been directly affected by gun violence, plaintiffs are too remote from the harm to seek monetary damages.
An award of damages in an action for nuisance is "retroactive, applying to past conduct," and is proper if "it is unreasonable to engage in the conduct without paying for the harm done." Restatement (Second) of Torts §821B, Comment i (1979). Under section 821(C) of the Restatement, a plaintiff may recover damages in an individual action for public nuisance only if he "suffered harm of a kind different from that suffered by other members of the public exercising the right common to the general public that was the subject of interference." Restatement (Second) of Torts §821C(1) (1979). The ability of an individual plaintiff to recover damages in a public nuisance suit is the result of "a tort remedy [having] been engrafted onto a crime," the tort remedy being damages for trespass and the crime being the common law crime of public nuisance. Restatement (Second) of Torts §821C, Comment a (1979). No mention is made in section 821C or the comments that follow of the ability of a public official or entity to recover damages in an action for public nuisance brought on behalf of the general public.
Plaintiffs claim more than $433 million in operating expenses attributable to the alleged public nuisance during the years 1994-98. This amount includes the expenses of emergency communications and emergency response, health care provided to victims of gun violence, police investigations, and the prosecution and defense of those accused of crimes involving illegal possession and use of firearms. Plaintiffs also seek punitive damages against each defendant. Although acknowledging the difficulty of apportioning damages among the individual defendants, plaintiffs insist that damages are neither speculative nor particularly difficult to calculate. Plaintiffs also suggest that it is premature to consider issues related to damages at the pleading stage of this litigation. Plaintiffs assert that they may properly seek money damages because their public nuisance claim "is not based on economic losses flowing from damage to someone else's person or property, but instead properly asserts the collective rights of the public." "In short," plaintiffs state, "in a public nuisance action, the government is never a remote or derivative plaintiff." Plaintiffs' position is that because abatement of the alleged nuisance by collecting unlawful firearms is not feasible, they are entitled to recover damages "representing the cost of providing governmental services made necessary by the widespread unlawful possession and use of
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Illinois Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|