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Kawaguchi v. Gainer9/16/2005
se, a plaintiff could circumvent the State's immunity by naming only an individual State employee as the defendant in a lawsuit that could operate to control the State's actions. Currie, 148 Ill. 2d at 158.
To determine whether an action nominally against an individual State employee could operate to control the actions of the State, a court must analyze the source of the duty the employee allegedly breached in committing the act about which the plaintiff complains. Hickey, 263 Ill. App. 3d at 563. Although this does not mean that sovereign immunity applies merely because the allegedly negligent act occurred while the State employee was acting within the scope of his or her employment, it does mean that sovereign immunity applies if the duty allegedly breached arose solely from that employment. Currie, 148 Ill. 2d at 158-59. When, as is the case here, the plaintiff alleges negligent operation of a motor vehicle by a State employee, sovereign immunity does not apply if the employee is charged with breaching a duty imposed on him or her as an ordinary driver of a vehicle. Currie, 148 Ill. 2d at 160. However, sovereign immunity does apply if the manner in which the State employee operated the vehicle is unique to his or her employment. See Currie, 148 Ill. 2d at 160. When that is the case, a lawsuit directed at the employee's allegedly negligent driving could quite obviously operate to control the actions and policies of the State. See Currie, 148 Ill. 2d at 158-59. Again, this will not do. Currie, 148 Ill. 2d at 158, 160.
Here, the undisputed facts show that, at the time of the accident, Trooper Gainer was driving her patrol car in a manner unique to her position as a state trooper. First, it is undisputed that Trooper Gainer received a dispatch of an accident involving injuries and that State Police policy required her to treat such a call as an emergency. Second, it is undisputed that, after receiving the call, Trooper Gainer abruptly discontinued a traffic stop and, without issuing a citation, departed for the scene of the accident. Third, it is undisputed that Trooper Gainer chose the quickest route to the accident scene. Fourth, it is undisputed that, at the time of the accident, Trooper Gainer was driving south across three lanes of westbound traffic. She was driving, that is, in a manner authorized for emergency personnel only. See 625 ILCS 5/11--205(b), (c)(4) (West 2002) ("The driver of an authorized emergency vehicle, when responding to an emergency call *, may" " isregard regulations governing direction of movement"). In sum, the undisputed facts demonstrate that, at the time of the accident, Trooper Gainer was operating her vehicle in a manner unique to her State employment.
Plaintiff offers little to disturb the above conclusion. She argues that, even accepting all of the above undisputed facts, there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Trooper Gainer was acting in a manner unique to her State employment. To support this contention, plaintiff relies on the lone disputed fact in this case --i.e., whether, as Effinger alleged in his suit against Trooper Gainer, Trooper Gainer did not have her flashing lights and siren on at the time of the accident. That is, as plaintiff sees it, if Trooper Gainer did not have her flashing lights and siren on, it is debatable whether, in responding to an emergency call by driving south across the westbound lanes of Interstate 88, Trooper Gainer was acting in a manner unique to her State employment.
We disagree. Under section 11--205 of the Illinois Vehicle Code, only authorized vehicles responding to an emergency may disregard regulations governing the direction of traffic movement. 625 ILCS 5/11--205(b), (c)(4) (W
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