Essence Kimball v. State of Illinois

OPINION

Moore, J. Essence Kimball (“Claimant”) filed a Complaint on or about December 7, 2018, against the State of Illinois and the Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University (“Respondent” or “State”) seeking damages in the amount of $25,000 for medical bills, pain and suffering, past disability, and future disability. A hearing on the merits was heard by a Commissioner of the Court on November 2, 2021.

Background

At all times relevant, Claimant was a second-year student at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale (“SIU-C”). A theater student, she was enrolled in a stagecraft class that met in the Communications Building from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. On December 5, 2017, Claimant was leaving class at her usual time, while speaking to her sister on her cell phone, and attempted to leave the building through the main entrance. While walking through the doorway, a chunk of metal fell from above and hit her on the front of her head and hit her cell phone. Claimant attempted to exit through the handicap door, which is the doorway furthest to the left when exiting the building. Before being hit by the metal object, Claimant had neither seen nor heard anything to warn her of a falling object.

After being hit, Claimant felt foggy but recalled Ms. LaVon Donley-Cornett running to help her. Claimant sat down, and one of them picked up the metal object that had hit Claimant. It was heavy and had a hole in it. It appeared to be from the side of the door, near the top. On a scale of one to ten, Claimant’s pain was a seven. Ms. Donley-Cornett recommended calling an ambulance, but Claimant decided to walk to the student health center. While walking, the Claimant realized her injury was serious, and she should not be walking the one to two miles to the health center. It took Claimant nearly twenty minutes to walk to the health center when usually it would take ten to fifteen minutes. A police officer was waiting at the health center for Claimant having been called by Ms. Donley-Cornett. The police officer asked if Claimant wanted an ambulance, which she did. The officer called an ambulance that transported Claimant to the main local hospital, where she was treated in the emergency room.

Claimant was diagnosed with a concussion, given pain medication, instructed to rest, and advised that sleep and movement over the next couple of days would likely be difficult. Claimant experienced those complications as well as intense pain, vomiting, and migraines. Following the instructions given in the emergency room, Claimant also followed up at the student health center later that week, which authorized Claimant to miss a few days of class. Claimant was seen at the [*246] student health center three or four times during the first week following the incident. Claimant then started to feel better, but still suffered migraines during the first month and occasionally suffers them now.

LaVon Donley-Cornett who was called as a witness testified that she worked as an office administrator at the College of Mass Communications at SIU-C, in the Communications Building. As of December 2017, she had worked in the building for approximately eighteen years, and at SIU-C for nearly thirty years. The Communications Building needs repairs and updates, including fixing leaks in the roof, adding space, and updating technology. The building had been scheduled to be remodeled over the years but had not been. Instead, only repairs were done, including patching leaks in the roof, and removing asbestos.

On December 5, 2017, Ms. Donley-Cornett was in her office, located behind the front office. A student worker was stationed at the front office. The student worker entered Ms.

Donley-Cornett’s office holding a metal bar and informed her a student had been hit by the bar and injured.

Ms. Donley-Cornett entered the hall and saw Claimant sitting on a bench by the office holding her head. Claimant looked to be in pain. Ms. Donley-Cornett spoke to Claimant, asked how her injury occurred, and advised her to see a doctor at health services, which was located approximately six blocks from the Communications Building. She recommended Claimant take a photo of the metal bar to help the doctor know what hit her. Ms. Donley-Cornett also weighed the metal bar on a scale in the office. It weighed one pound. She obtained Claimant’s name and cell phone number. After Claimant departed for health services, Ms. Donley-Cornett thought Claimant should not be walking, so she called the police and asked if they would give Claimant a ride. She then called Claimant to offer the ride, but Claimant declined, as she was almost at health services. Ms. Donley-Cornett again spoke to the police, who informed her they would meet Claimant at the door to health services to have her taken to the emergency room.

A police officer also met Ms. Donley-Cornett at the Communications Building to complete an incident report. The officer and Ms. Donley-Cornett went through the questions and completed the report, but she did not see a copy of it and is unaware if the officer photographed anything. Ms. Donley-Cornett called the physical plant to have a report done, including a service report for the door. Someone came to take the report, and Ms. Donley-Cornett gave the physical plant worker the metal bar. She asked to be shown where exactly the metal bar came from, and the worker showed her a space in the door frame that was the exact size of this metal bar. It was the third door from the wall. In the nearly thirty years working in various buildings at SIU-C, Ms. Donley-Cornett did not recall ever witnessing an incident like Claimant’s. She had not heard of any injury, complaint, or needed repair involving a door. When further pressed as to any recollection of even a minor issue with any door at all, the only complaint she could recollect was that a strong wind would sometimes work open a door on the opposite end from the door at issue. Ms. Donley-Cornett also testified as to the procedure to put in a service request for anything needing repair, and that she was unaware of any door-related service request.

Claimant also seeks an award for the following items: 1) Jackson County Ambulance December 5, 2017, for $614.40. 2) Memorial Hospital of Carbondale December 5, 2017, for $3,329.00. 3) SIU Student Health Center December 6, 2017-December 11, 2017, for $304.20.

The State did not contest the value of these items.

[*247] Analysis

Claimant has stated a claim for negligence. In order to prevail, Claimant must establish, by a preponderance of the evidence: (1) the existence of a duty owed to her by the Respondent, (2) a breach of that duty by the Respondent, and (3) that the breach proximately caused the Claimant’s damages. Rivera v. State, 63 Ill. Ct. Cl. 218, 224 (2011) (additional cities omitted).

The State of Illinois is not an insurer of the safety of visitors to State university buildings, but the State does owe a duty of reasonable care to maintain its premises in a safe condition. Berger v. Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, 40 Ill. Ct. Cl. 121, 124 (1988). Here, Claimant alleges Respondent breached its duty by failing to maintain the exit doorway of the Communications Building at SIU-C in a reasonably safe condition.

To prevail, Claimant must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a dangerous condition existed, that the State had actual or constructive notice of that condition and that it proximately caused Claimant’s injuries. Simpson v. State, 37 Ill. Ct. Cl. 76, 78 (1985) (additional cities omitted).

Claimant’s testimony as to the metal bar falling from a doorway in the SIU-C Communications Building and hitting her on the head as she traveled through the doorway is corroborated by the testimony of Ms. Donley-Cornett and is unrebutted. While Respondent correctly argues that Claimant and Ms. Donley-Cornett identify different doorways, it is not disputed that a metal bar fell from one of the doorways of the Communications Building’s main entrance and hit Claimant. An unprovoked, falling, one-pound metal bar from a doorway provided for public use is a dangerous condition. It is also unrebutted that Claimant suffered pain and physical injury because of being hit by the falling metal bar. Claimant and Respondent are both correct that liability, in this case, turns on whether Respondent had notice of this dangerous condition.

The burden of proof is on Claimant to prove the State had notice. Hardeman, Jr. v. State, 47 Ill. Ct. Cl. 292, 295 (1995). Claimant argues that actual notice is evidenced in the testimony of Ms. Donley-Cornett regarding the Communications Building needing repairs and updates generally. However, Ms. Donley-Cornett was not aware of previous similar complaints or problems with the door at issue, or with any door at SIU-C, during her approximately thirty years working on campus in various buildings. The Court finds Claimant has not proven the State had actual notice.

Constructive notice may be imputed to Respondent where the hazard was obvious enough that notice should be imputed, or the dangerous condition existed for a sufficiently long time that it should have been discovered. Rivera at 225. Claimant’s evidence and argument as to constructive notice also rest on the general testimony of Claimant and Ms. Donley-Cornett as to the Communications Building’s being an older building and generally in need of renovations and updates. However, Ms. Donley-Cornett also testified that repairs to the building continued to be made - such as repairing roof leaks and removing asbestos - and it was desired updates, such as student software purchases, other technology and an addition to the building for which there was no funding. While the State has a duty to safely maintain all State buildings, Claimant has not offered evidence to show Respondent failed to complete any known, needed repairs to the Communications Building doorway or otherwise did not properly maintain the doorway to a reasonable standard. A building’s age and general outdatedness alone do not alleviate Claimant’s burden to establish constructive notice of any specific dangerous condition. [*248]

The Court finds the facts here analogous to those in Hardeman, Jr. v. State, supra. There, the claimant properly entered a Secretary of State facility and sat in a waiting room chair provided for people such as himself. The chair collapsed upon him sitting, and the claimant was injured. However, without the claimant proving the State had notice of the dangerous condition of the chair there could be no liability. Similarly, Claimant, in this case, was a student properly exiting a State university building when she was injured by a metal bar falling off a doorway structure and hitting her in the head. Nevertheless, as Claimant has not proven the State had either actual or constructive notice of the doorway’s danger, the Court finds that Claimant has not met her burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the State had breached its duty.

Based on the foregoing, we find that the claim must be denied, and hereby dismissed with prejudice.