Montano v. City of Chicago

Case Date: 10/26/1999
Court: 1st District Appellate
Docket No: 1-98-3885

Montano v. City of Chicago, No. 1-98-3885

1st District, October 26, 1999

SECOND DIVISION

MIGUEL MONTANO,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

THE CITY OF CHICAGO,

Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Honorable Jennifer Duncan-Brice, Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE McNULTY delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Miguel Montano (Montano), appeals an order granting summary judgment in favor of defendant, the City of Chicago (City), and an order denying Montano's motion for a rehearing in a negligence action alleging that the City failed to maintain its alleys in a reasonably safe manner. On appeal, Montano contends that the City owed him a duty of care as a delivery person who was unloading a truck legally situated within an alley. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

On December 7, 1995, Montano, a delivery person for Columbia Furniture, was scheduled to deliver a couch to a house at 5915 South Damen Avenue. Montano used a truck that was 8 feet wide to deliver the couch. When he arrived at the house, he pulled into the first alley south of the intersection of 59th and Damen because of its proximity to the house and stopped in the middle of the alley, which was less than 16 feet wide.

Once stopped in the alley, Montano turned off the ignition and exited the truck. He walked around to the back of the truck and opened the rear door. He and his coworker then entered the truck to remove the couch. While Montano and his coworker were each holding one end of the couch, Montano backed out of the truck and stepped onto the rear step of the truck. As Montano stepped off the rear step onto the pavement of the alley, he twisted his foot on some uneven pavement surrounding a sewer cover and fell down.

On October 3, 1996, Montano filed a complaint against the City, alleging that it negligently: (a) allowed the alley to be in a dangerously uneven and broken condition; (b) failed to make the alley flush; (c) failed to repair the alley although the City knew or should have known of its dangerous condition; and (d) failed to warn Montano of the dangerous and defective nature of the alley. On October 23, 1996, the City filed a motion to dismiss paragraph 7(d) of the complaint, which alleged that the City failed to warn Montano of the dangerous or defective condition of the alley. The trial court granted the City's motion on January 15, 1997, finding that the City did not have a duty to warn Montano pursuant to section 3-104 of the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (Tort Immunity Act) (745 ILCS 10/3-104 (West 1994)) and struck paragraph 7(d) from the complaint.

On January 16, 1998, the City filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting that the City was immune from liability pursuant to section 3-102(a) of the Tort Immunity Act (745 ILCS 10/3-102(a) (West 1994)). On April 9, 1998, the trial court granted the City's motion, holding that the Tort Immunity Act precluded liability because Montano's use of the alley was neither intended nor permitted. The court reasoned that, since Montano violated section 9-64-130 of the Chicago Municipal Code (Code) (Chicago Municipal Code